received over 20% of the vote in the June 30th presidential elections and placed second to millionaire "Goni" Sanchez de Lozada who received 22.5%. According to Bolivian law, since no one got 50%, Congress will choose between the top two candidates on Aug 6.

Evo Morales' campaign included calling for the expulsion of U.S. drug enforcement agents from Bolivia.

The U.S. and Bolivian government have been working on destroying coca fields in Bolivia, under the horrible title "Plan Dignidad" (Plan Dignity). But Morales says that it's not just about "zero coca":

"For the United States and the multinational corporations it seems to be a crime if the farmers continue being owners of their own lands and if they can't separate us from our culture. Meanwhile, the original indigenous people, possessing their lands, will continue being a threat, because land is synonymous with liberty. And what they want is for us to become agricultural employees. This is the real battle."

The Bolivian Constitution allows some to run for two offices at once so Morales also ran for Congress, again. (In 1997, he won 70.3% of votes for his congressional seat. In Jan 2002, he was expelled for supposedly inciting violence.) He received 86.4% of the votes in his district.

Morales adds:"The world must take notice that the worst enemy of humanity is capitalism. That is what provokes uprisings like our own, a rebellion against a system, against a neoliberal model, which is the representation of a savage capitalism. If the entire world doesn't acknowledge this reality, that the national states are not providing even minimally for health, education and alimentation, then each day the most fundamental human rights are being violated. I ask, please, that the people reflect about the reality of millions and millions of human beings who have been excluded, humiliated, marginalized, above all, the indigenous peoples. It would be good to reflect in order to find new models of development that permit us to resolve the problems of the majority and not merely to augment the enrichment of the minority."

yeah!

For more info, look at:

http://www.narconews.com/hungerstrike1.html

(same interview, in spanish)

http://www.narconews.com/hungerstrike1es.html

http://www.narconews.com/harvest1.html

(same, in spanish)

http://www.narconews.com/cosecha1.html



(This is where i got this info from)

Felipe Quispe, know as "el Mallku" (the Prince) was also in the presidential elections and he won a little over 6% of the vote. His running mate was a woman, Esther Balboa. !!

Quispe says,"We are not puritans. We don't speak only of the indigenous, but of all the people. We are also worried about our brothers and sisters who are not indigenous, who also suffer because there is no work. We even think of the people in the wealthiest neighborhoods of the cities who live in the worst misery: We still have some little plots to plant in, but they don't. We are also thinking about working with them, because they were also born here. We don't want to implant the same racism that was created in the colonies and continues existing in this government. We cannot confront white racism with Indian racism. That would be a social aberration and a political suicide. What we are going to do is to embrace everyone. This movement has a very big poncho, and below it everybody fits."

Also, "[L]et's go back to September 11th, when the Twin Towers were toppled. The whole world said, "Oh, those poor people." However, we, as indigenous, see that this attack was against a system, an imperialist system that also represses us, although we also knew that the soon the United States would then go and attack another country, as it did in Afghanistan. And above all because it is evident that it is not about trapping a terrorist, but, rather, to acquire wealth in the form of petroleum, uranium and other minerals.

...[M]ost recently there were the declarations of Manuel Rocha [the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia] in which he said that Evo Morales and I are terrorists. He went as far as to speak of extraditing me to the United States."

Finally, he says,"I wish to send a fraternal and revolutionary salute to all the Indian people who, like us, fight to self-govern and to be free. We are with our brothers and sisters in our cause. "

in english: http://www.narconews.com/felipe1eng.html

in spanish:

http://www.narconews.com/felipe1es.html