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01/29/2006:

"Morales gives longtime outsiders of Bolivia a place in Cabinet"

LA PAZ, Bolivia - The Evo Morales era began this week in Bolivia as the new president promised it would, with long days, new faces and quick decisions sure to anger the establishment.

Fresh off an inaugural weekend that celebrated Bolivia's indigenous majority and featured a parade of leftist dignitaries, Morales formed a Cabinet empowering the longtime outsiders of Bolivian society. He shook up the military brass in a move that brought howls of protest. And on Thursday, Morales named a longtime ally to try to revive the state oil company.

The Cabinet is home to a handful of unknowns, heavy on leftist credentials but almost absent governmental experience.

The new foreign minister has no diplomatic background. The new justice minister has no legal education. But both are indigenous, just like Morales and about 60 percent of the Bolivian population. And both have won praise for their work with poor communities that historically have been abused and neglected in Bolivia.

"The parties are over. The honeymoon is over," Morales said in swearing in his 16 ministers.

Then, in an allusion to the vast self-interest that has long plagued the public sector in Bolivia, Morales said: "To be in authority means to serve the people and not to live off the people. Zero corruption and zero bureaucracy."
contracostatimes