Bolivian Leader Warns U.S. on Free Trade
Thu Oct 30,10:02 PM ET
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA - If Latin American opponents of Washington's free trade policies join forces, they could deal the United States a blow as serious as its loss in the Vietnam War, Bolivian opposition leader Evo Morales said Thursday.
"Urgent action is important," Morales told leaders of social movements from across the Americas at a gathering here attended by President Fidel Castro (news - web sites). Morales called on the leaders to come together in regional unity and "create people power."
"Very soon we could celebrate in Latin America another Vietnam for the United States," Morales said, referring to the protracted conflict in Asia that sparked widespread opposition protests across the United States in the 1960s.
Morales, a former presidential candidate and now a congressman, is considered a top leader of regional opposition to free-trade policies that have expanded across Latin America in recent years.
The leader of Bolivia's Indian coca-leaf farmers was at the forefront of protests that toppled President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada in mid-October after the president promoted a plan to export Bolivia's natural gas.
Morales, attending a meeting of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences, on Wednesday had called on intellectuals to work with grass roots leaders in their countries to end free-trade economic policies that he says favor the privileged rich while ignoring the majority poor.
"It is important to incorporate intellectuals into the struggle," Morales said Wednesday on the communist government's nightly "Roundtable" television program. He said intellectuals should "not only be concerned, but do something."
Morales on Wednesday repeated his earlier calls for an "alternative summit" by Castro and presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil when heads of state from Spanish- and Portuguese speaking nations gather in Bolivia in mid-November for the annual Ibero-American Summit.
Castro, who for security reasons never announces his trips abroad in advance, has not said if he will attend.
Thu Oct 30,10:02 PM ET
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA - If Latin American opponents of Washington's free trade policies join forces, they could deal the United States a blow as serious as its loss in the Vietnam War, Bolivian opposition leader Evo Morales said Thursday.
"Urgent action is important," Morales told leaders of social movements from across the Americas at a gathering here attended by President Fidel Castro (news - web sites). Morales called on the leaders to come together in regional unity and "create people power."
"Very soon we could celebrate in Latin America another Vietnam for the United States," Morales said, referring to the protracted conflict in Asia that sparked widespread opposition protests across the United States in the 1960s.
Morales, a former presidential candidate and now a congressman, is considered a top leader of regional opposition to free-trade policies that have expanded across Latin America in recent years.
The leader of Bolivia's Indian coca-leaf farmers was at the forefront of protests that toppled President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada in mid-October after the president promoted a plan to export Bolivia's natural gas.
Morales, attending a meeting of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences, on Wednesday had called on intellectuals to work with grass roots leaders in their countries to end free-trade economic policies that he says favor the privileged rich while ignoring the majority poor.
"It is important to incorporate intellectuals into the struggle," Morales said Wednesday on the communist government's nightly "Roundtable" television program. He said intellectuals should "not only be concerned, but do something."
Morales on Wednesday repeated his earlier calls for an "alternative summit" by Castro and presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil when heads of state from Spanish- and Portuguese speaking nations gather in Bolivia in mid-November for the annual Ibero-American Summit.
Castro, who for security reasons never announces his trips abroad in advance, has not said if he will attend.