Thursday, January 5, 2006

Global reactions to Morales win

Depending on what periodical one picks up, the world views on Morales' win in Bolivia range from predictions of the apocalypse to the coming salvation of the Bolivian people. Below are some of the comments from around the world:

Al-Jazeera - "But hope can be found everywhere: in the chants of Bolivia's poor lauding Evo Morales and his people-centered agenda..."

Front Page Magazine - (USA) "A mineworker, labor agitator, and friend of the coca producers, Morales is little more than an opportunistic street thug."

Miami Herald - (USA) "Electing an indigenous man as president is a shock to the fragile social strata of South America and lifts the veil on Latin American racism long denied."

New Socialist Group- (USA) "At best, Evo will promote some marginal increases in property and royalty taxes, and perhaps increase some social spending on welfare services (but always limited by a tight fiscal budget)."

Periodico26 - (Cuba) "With this overwhelming support, the Bolivian people showed that they trusted the honest, incorruptible and austere political history of comrade Evo Morales..."

Pravda - (Russia) "Today, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela join Fidel Castro as leaders...of socially progressive systems which focus on the need to create programs which serve the interests of the people, and not the corrupted super-rich clique of elitists living at Washington's beck and call."

The Progress Report - (USA) Bolivia's Evo Morales Could Shift the Hemispheric Balance of Power

SFBayView - (USA) "‘Mother Coca’ wins in Bolivia."

VHeadline - (Venezuela) "For the first time in decades Bolivia's government is at long last in the hands of the People."

Washington Post- (USA) "Lacking any coherent policies of his own, Morales will probably take instruction from Chavez..."

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Film blames Cuba for JFK slaying

A new documentary by German director Wilfried Huismann claims that the assassination of John F Kennedy was a ploy by the Cuban government, and that the Lyndon B Johnson administration covered up the details in order to resist pressure to invade the island. "Rendevouz With Death" debuted in a limited release Wednesday in Berlin. (Newsweek)

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