Morales' Triumph Has Washington Concerned

Morales' Triumph Has Washington Concerned

Monday December 26, 2005 4:32 AM
By FIONA SMITH

Associated Press Writer

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - His idea of formal wear is a brown leather jacket over an open-collared shirt. He is more at home leading street protests than wrangling deals in the corridors of power. His fiery speaking style leaves no room for prepared texts.

Evo Morales assumes Bolivia's presidency Jan. 22 as an extreme outsider to the country's politics, and as the first Indian president to rule an Andean nation that has always been governed by people of European descent.

His triumph is causing concern in Washington because of his promises to reverse the U.S.-backed campaign to end the growing of coca leaf, which is used to make cocaine, and to nationalize Bolivia's gas and oil reserves.

Counting Cuba's Fidel Castro among his allies, he also is a strong critic of free-market economics, and his election win was the latest in a string of leftist victories in South American nations disenchanted with ruling elites, endemic corruption and chronic poverty.

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