EL UNIVERSAL

Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales arrived in Venezuela as part of a tour before his inauguration next January 22nd.

Coming from Cuba, where he made his first stopover, Morales will proceed to Spain, France, Brussels, South Africa, China and Brazil.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and ministers welcomed the leader of the Bolivian Movement for Socialism (MAS) at Simón Bolívar Maiquetía International Airport.

Earlier, President Chávez commented that the triumph of the indigenous leader mirrors people's awareness to retake the historical background.

Chávez dismissed the claims of an evil axis composed of Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela and accused Washington of being the core of such axis.

He claimed that the United States and allies are responsible for threatening, invading, killing and murdering. "We are creating the axis of good, the new axis, the axis of the new century."

On arriving in Maiquetía, the new ruler claimed to be certain that the Latin American integration would come true.

Morales emphasized that Bolivia will join "the anti-neoliberal and anti-imperialist fight."

"Latin America is facing new times, in a new millennium, a millennium for the people and not for the empire, to solve the social and economic troubles of national majorities," Morales reasserted.

He noted that the movement is not only in Bolivia, but is championed also by Fidel Castro in Cuba and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela.
 
Chávez commented that he would discuss with Morales the 10 fundamental proposals made by MAS in Bolivia, including nationalization of hydrocarbons, constituent assembly and state law on productive lands. It is possible that Morales and Chávez enter into an agreement on a program of rural identification to be backed by the Venezuelan government with equipment, technology and know-how.

Morales pays a visit to Chávez after his landslide victory in the polls last December 18th and following a meeting last Friday and Saturday with Cuban ruler Fidel Castro.

The leader of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) will stay briefly in the capital city following an invitation by his colleague and friend Hugo Chávez, journalist Alex Contreras, the speaker of the future Andean ruler said in the city of Cochabamba.

The Cuban and Venezuelan rulers were invited to Morales' inauguration next January 22nd, after a ten-day tour in Spain, France, Brussels, South Africa, China and Brazil.

Good fellows
The first official meeting will be one more of a number of meetings between the leaders who have a close personal and political relation.

A fervent admirer of the Bolivarian revolution headed by Chávez, the former deputy and MAS leader was one of the first foreign guests in the Sunday TV and radio show of the Venezuelan president.

Morales and Chávez closed links after a failed coup in 2002 in Venezuela and Chávez support of the Bolivian access to the sea in 2003.

The peasant leader joined Chávez over the last years in several international anti-imperialist, indigenous, and social events. The last one was the Anti-Summit of the Americas in Argentina.

Translated by Conchita Delgado