In his debut address to a multilateral forum as Bolivian president, Evo Morales yesterday demanded an end to the “pillaging” of his country’s natural resources, and appealed to the IDB to focus on the “marginalized” Latin American masses.
Sporting a leather jacket with insets of Bolivian weaving, Morales denounced social injustice in his address to the opening plenary of the IDB’s annual meeting.
“The people have the right to be anti-neo- liberal,” he said, citing the slavery, assassination and poverty that have plagued the history of the indigenous of Bolivia, where more than half the population lives in extreme poverty.
He also said that Bolivia needs “partners and not owners,” an allusion to the foreign firms that own and process Bolivia’s natural gas reserves.
Reactions to Morales’ speech were mixed. “He is the voice of the indigenous people and someone has to listen to it,” Peter West, senior economist for Paolim Asset Management in London, told Emerging Markets.
Others reacted more sceptically: “It was a bit disquieting and didn’t reflect well on Evo or Bolivia,” said Walter Molano, director of emerging markets research at BCP securities. Morales had missed an opportunity to present a more balanced position, he added.
Morales is one of two presidents to address this year´s IDB meeting. The other is president Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, another of the region’s five highly indebted poor countries that seek cancellation of their $3.5 billion debt with the IDB. The presence of the two leaders had fuelled expectation that progress might be announced at this meeting.
However, in his formal debut as IDB president, Luis Alberto Moreno did not mention debt cancellation. In his speech at the plenary session he said that the IDB should be a “knowledge bank” that works to make Latin America a global hub.