Bolivia: Evo Morales March Shows Support For President

LA PAZ, Bolivia -- Tens of thousands of Bolivians have converged on the center of the capital to show support for leftist President Evo Morales in his faceoff against lowlands Indians over a jungle highway.

Highlands Indians, coca growers and union members allied with Morales took part in Wednesday's demonstration in La Paz. Some public servants say they were obliged to take part.

Morales alleged in a speech capping the march that forces he didn't identify are conspiring to divide Bolivia's indigenous majority.

He has angered lowlands Indians by pushing to build a highway through a pristine indigenous preserve in the Amazon. A march by opponents of the highway is nearing La Paz.

Comments

[Yaxchibonam]

02:01 AM on 10/13/2011

The actual issue here is left moldering in the dust. The struggle of the indigenous people to protect their way of life and the health of the rain forest should be of concern to all of us. And the fact that an indigenous leader should be in conflict with his own people about this is a subject worth of our attention and investigation. What has happened to our attention span? What has happened to our investigative reporters?

[Gay Iberian]

01:21 PM on 10/13/2011

What happened is that the world gave the governments to those few major world corporations that have taken over, and with the banner of "Exploration and growth!" is ruining the environment.

[LMPE]

12:01 AM on 10/13/2011

I bet that Milton Friedman's head exploded when Evo Morales came to power.