Another Socialist Victory in Latin America

South America continues in its slide into socialism with the election of Evo Morales
to the leadership of Bolivia.

Bolivian socialist leader Evo Morales has won enough votes in the country's presidential election to be installed as leader, electoral officials say. The country's electoral court confirmed that with almost two-thirds of the votes counted, Mr Morales' share was enough for him to win.

From Granma Newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party 20th December 2005

"IN one of his first statements to the press after his election as president, Evo Morales stated by telephone from La Paz for the popular Cuban informative space of the Roundtable: "I personally had and have much confidence in the Bolivian people.

"Those who killed us with bullets are now trying to kill us with lies, but the Bolivian population knows who I am and those dirty campaigns had no effect, given that the marginalized poor know who to defend and why they are doing so," he emphasized in a statement for the Roundtable.

He added that he is already at the stage of organizing his cabinet and is planning to travel abroad in order to be in contact with other leaders.

He sent a message of thanks to the all the Cuban people and government for their constant solidarity with the Bolivians by demonstrating to the world that one can fight with dignity and sovereignty, and took advantage of the situation to reiterate his condemnation of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of the island."

Morales is the leader of the "Movement Towards Socialism which he founded in 1995. The MAS had been a long time participant in the the "Sao Paolo Forum" meetings which have united Latin American Communist and Socialist parties in recent years.

It is also on the Secretariat of the Sao Paolo Forum's successor organisation, the "Bolivarian Congress of the Peoples" which has been meeting in Caracas, Venezuela. Other parties on the Congress Secretariat include the Cuban Communist Party, the El Salvadorean FMLN and Marxist Hugo Cavez's Bolivarian Circles of Venezuela.

Morales is openly allied to Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. With Bolivia, Venezuela and Brazil all run by pro Castro Marxists and several other Marxist movements close to power on the continent, it seems socialism ain't quite so dead after all.