Maravi

Morales visits Fidel

Morales visits Fidel
By Larry Moonze in Havana, Cuba
Saturday June 09, 2007 [04:00]

BOLIVIA’S President Evo Morales is in Cuba on a working visit and met President Fidel Castro. President Morales, according to a brief notice, held an emotive and fraternal exchange with President Castro. During a three-hour discussion the duo ran over achievements of the Cuban-sponsored Eye-Operation project, Operation Miracle, in which almost 90,000 Bolivians have had their sight restored.

Presidents Morales and Castro analysed advances under the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). ALBA is a socially oriented trade block rather than one strictly based on the logic of deregulated profit maximisation. Established by Venezuela and Cuba now joined by Bolivia and Nicaragua, ALBA appeals to the egalitarian principles of justice and equality that are innate in human beings, the well-being of the most dispossessed sectors of society, and a reinvigorated sense of solidarity toward the underdeveloped countries of the western hemisphere, so that with the required assistance, they can enter into trade negotiations on more favorable terms than has been the case under the dictates of developed countries.

President Morales was also to meet with Cuba’s acting president and army general Raul Castro.

He was received at the Jose Marti International Airport by Vice-President Carlos Lage. “On invitation of Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Council of State and Ministers of Cuba, comrade Evo Morales, President of the sister Republic of Bolivia, begins a working visit to our country today (Thursday),” read a notice in the Granma earlier on.

“This latest visit by Evo comes in the context of the excellent relations between the two nations in every sphere, and constitutes a further demonstration of the solid ties of friendship and solidarity that unite our peoples and governments.”

President Morales, a leftist, is the first indigenous leader to rule the Andean nation of Bolivia in 500 years. He is also pursuing agrarian reforms and has recorded remarkable success in nationalising the energy sector.

Labels: ALBA, EVO MORALES, FIDEL CASTRO

posted by MrK @ 3:38 AM