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01/23/2006:

"Morales Inauguration in Pictures"

washingtonpost.com

For Bolivian Majority, a New Promise
LA PAZ, Bolivia, Jan. 22 -- The streets of this colonial city erupted in song and fireworks Sunday to celebrate the inauguration of Evo Morales, Bolivia's first Indian president, who promised to begin reversing centuries of social injustice, shield the country from U.S. influence and reclaim natural resources that he says have been exploited by international capitalism.

Morales, 46, broke into tears before addressing Bolivia's Congress and the presidents of many neighboring South American countries, a gathering that illustrated the region's ongoing political shift toward socialism. The former coca grower likened his historic rise to power in Bolivia, where people of Indian descent make up more than 60 percent of the population, to the end of apartheid in South Africa.

"This morning I was very happy to see my brothers and sisters singing in the historical Plaza Murillo and Plaza San Francisco," Morales said, referring to the celebrations attended by thousands of indigenous citizens in the city's main squares. "Forty or 50 years ago, we didn't even have the right to enter the Plaza San Francisco or the Plaza Murillo."