"Earlier, Mr Chavez said the two men (he and Morales) were building an 'axis of good'.
"'The axis of evil - do you know who the axis of evil is? Washington - that's the axis of evil. And their allies in the world, who threaten, who invade, who kill, who assassinate,' he said.
"'We are creating the axis of good, the new axis of the new century.'
"In a news conference shortly before Mr Morales left Venezuela, the men said they had agreed to work together in a number of fields....they agreed to carry out a literacy programme in Bolivia, with the intended aim of eradicating illiteracy within 30 months. Mr Chavez pledged his government would provide technical assistance in terms of gas and oil exploration...
"...Venezuela is the world's fifth biggest oil exporter and Mr Chavez has taken steps to bring the state-owned oil company under more direct government control.
"In Bolivia, a raging struggle over who should exploit the country's large natural gas reserves, discovered over the past decade, has claimed two presidencies.
"Mr Morales' next stop is Spain. His 10-day tour of seven countries does not include the US. // Mr Morales would have gone to Washington had he been invited, his spokesman Alex Contreras said. // On Monday he held his first meeting with the US ambassador to Bolivia. // A statement from Mr Morales' party said the meeting had been cordial and the two men had agreed on the importance of fighting the illegal drugs trade.
"Mr Morales was elected president with nearly 54% of the vote, the biggest support for any candidate since democracy was restored in Bolivia in the 1980s."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4576972.stm-------------------------
The BBC has a great pix of Morales with Chavez. These men are such heroes! The first brown faces to lead South American countries--both with overwhelming popular majorities--and what do they do? Pledge to use their countries' resources to help the people who live there! Imagine!
Chavez campaigned with a wreath of coca leaves around his neck, opposes the murderous US "war on drugs," and said, "I am the United States' worst nightmare." He was elected with 54% of the vote in a field of EIGHT candidates--a huge victory in Bolivia.
Morales' victory followed an amazing and successful grass roots campaign to oust Bechtel from Bolivia. Bechtel had gained control of the water system in Bolivia's third largest city, Cochabamba, jacked up water rates dramatically (as much as 200%) for Bolivia's poorest people (people making $67 a MONTH), claimed to own the rain, and began charging Bolivian peasants money for gathering rainwater! When people revolted and and were violently repressed (one child killed, hundreds wounded), Bechtel was forced to leave the country. It then tried to charge poverty-stricken Bolivia $25 million for its lost opportunity to make future profits. This heinous suit against Bolivia was filed in a secret tribunal housed at the World Bank in Washington DC. But word got out anyway, and it appears that international outrage has forced Bechtel to back down. Bechtel--a global corporate predator based in San Francisco--worked this deal to squeeze some of the poorest people in Latin America through a subsidiary in the Netherlands. It has meanwhile bilked the city of SF of $5 million in overcharges for its water system; SF canceled Bechtel's contract.
The entire map of the South American subcontinent has gone "blue" over the last several years--with leftist governments in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela and now Bolivia.
It's amazing what you can do with transparent elections. It's time we had them here, in the U.S.*
http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=6670http://www.americas.org/item_130------------------------
*Throw Diebold and ES&S election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!
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