Bolivia's President-Elect to Visit Chavez

By Alvaro Zuazo

Fresh from talks with Fidel Castro, Bolivia's president-elect this week will visit another leftist Latin American leader, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Evo Morales, who takes office Jan. 22 as Bolivia's first Indian president, plans to spend six hours in Caracas on Tuesday before starting a tour of European countries, South Africa, China and Brazil, his spokesman Alex Contreras said Sunday.

Some U.S. officials have expressed concern about the growing alliance among Morales, Castro and Chavez — all critics of Washington.

But Contreras scoffed at such concerns.

Morales' close ties with Castro and Chavez, "do not aim at an axis of evil; rather, to an axis of good," he said.

Contreras said Morales' decision to start his international travels by visiting Castro and Chavez does not mean he is closed to relations with other governments. He would have gone to Washington if he had been invited, he said.

"The president-elect is prepared to talk, as long as diplomatic conditions are different from what they have been before," the spokesman said.

If that doesn't happen, "relations with the United States can deteriorate badly," he said.

Morales, a coca farmer who opposes U.S.-led coca eradication in Bolivia, returned Saturday from Cuba in his first trip abroad after his landslide election victory on Dec. 18.

In Cuba, Morales said he would not allow himself to be pressured by Washington while in power. "I never had good relations with the United States, but rather with the American people," he said.

Morales' win was the latest in a series of triumphs by leftist parties in Latin America.

During his visit to Havana, Castro called Morales's win historic and the two leaders said cooperation between their countries will grow.

Morales, a activist long before his election, has frequently visited Castro and Chavez in the past.

Source: Yahoo! News