Bolivian president-elect Evo Morales forgives the United States for past humiliations and welcomes dialogue, he said in Pretoria on Wednesday during a two-day visit to South Africa.
“I learnt from the internet today that the United States wants to contact us,” Morales said through an interpreter at the Union Buildings, after meeting President Thabo Mbeki.
“I want to say here from South Africa to the US, that we have a culture of dialogue and any dialogue to end discrimination is welcome.”
Morales said he forgives those in the White House for “so many humiliations”, because peace and social justice have to be sought through dialogue.
Speaking of Bolivians and South Africans’ shared past of discrimination, he said he has learned much during his visit about transformation in South Africa under former president Nelson Mandela and Mbeki.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has reportedly pledged his support to what he claimed on Tuesday was a US plot to overthrow him.
However, the US embassy in Bolivia has reportedly dismissed the allegations as ridiculous.
Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Morales was elected on December 18 and will be inaugurated on January — to his disbelief, in light of his labour-movement background.
Morales was a union leader of cocaleros, or coca plant farmers. Raw material for cocaine is derived from the plant, also used by Bolivians in herbal remedies.
Morales made it clear he will fight drug traffickers, but not eradicate coca cultivation, during a meeting earlier this month with the US ambassador to Bolivia, David Greenlee.
He has also voiced his desire to end US-sponsored coca eradication in Bolivia, maintaining that it has failed to curb drug trafficking.
Following the meeting in Pretoria, Morales said his country will seek to strengthen its links with the US’s southern neighbour, Mexico.
Companies that seek oil and gas exploration rights will not be land owners, but will be given certain guarantees for their ventures.
“They will be partners, but not owners. They will also have guarantees to recover their investments and collect their profits.”
Since his election, he has toured China, Cuba, Venezuela, Spain, The Netherlands and France. ‒ Sapa