ARGENTINA: Bolivian leader Evo Morales receives honorary degree from Argentine university

Record ID: 447367

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Bolivian leader Evo Morales receives honorary degree from Argentine university
  • Date: 30th April 2009
  • Summary: LA PLATA, ARGENTINA (APRIL 27, 2009) (REUTERS) OVERVIEW OF SALON WITH AUDIENCE ON HAND TO WELCOME BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT EVO MORALES AT UNIVERSITY OF LA PLATA MORALES SINGING BOLIVIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM WITH LA PLATA UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT GUSTAVO AZPIAZU STANDING NEXT TO HIM CROWD APPLAUDING MORALES DELIVERY OF HONORARY DEGREE TO MORALES STUDENTS APPLAUDING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT, EVO MORALES, SAYING: "I have been asked why has Cuba been expelled from the OAS. Well I've come up with the resolution. The argument they used in 1942, 1962, excuse me, was that Cuba was expelled because of Marxist-Leninsim. Well, I am declaring myself a Marxist-Leninist. Now they can expel me from the OAS." POSTERS OF MORALES BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (APRIL 27, 2009) (REUTERS) ROUNDTABLE OF SIGNING OF DEMARCATION AGREEMENT PARAGUAYAN FOREIGN MINISTER ALEJANDO HAMED FRANCO SIGNING AGREEMENT BOLIVIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER DAVID CHOQUEHUANCA SIGNING AGREEMENT ARGENTINE FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER JORGE TAIANA LOOKING ON CHILEAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER MARIANO FERNANDEZ LOOKING AS GUARANTOR OF SIGNING, WITH REPRESENTATIVES FROM PERU AND THE UNITED STATES LOOK ON AS OTHER GUARANTORS OF AGREEMENT VARIOUS OF APPLAUSE BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (APRIL 27, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ARGENTINE PRESIDENT CRISTINA FERNANDEZ HANDING OVER "FINAL MEMORY OF THE COMMISSION OF DEMARCATION OF BORDERS" TO BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT EVO MORALES AND PARAGUAYAN PRESIDENT FERNANDO LUGO WHO SHAKE HANDS AT CEREMONY IN GOVERNMENT HOUSE AUDIENCE APPLAUDING OVERVIEW OF CEREMONY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT, EVO MORALES, SAYING: "If in those times there had been Evo Morales and my fellow president (Fernando Lugo) in Paraguay, I am sure there wouldn't have been any wars." FERNANDEZ LISTENING TO SPEECH AUDIENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PARAGUAYAN PRESIDENT, FERNANDO LUGO, SAYING: "With our hopes placed on the much longed for justice, I want to praise the virtue of peace. We are consolidating this peace with the firm will of the two nations and of the governments of Paraguay and Bolivia. The peace is to serve to ensure that never again in our Americas will external vorace cause us to find ourselves opposing each other." LUGO EMBRACES MORALES AND FERNANDEZ OVERVIEW OF CEREMONY LUGO WITH TWO WOMEN AT CEREMONY
  • Embargoed: 15th May 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAENKG8Z0F3UPU4QOA37FA095DZ
  • Story Text: Argentina hosted the Bolivian and Paraguayan presidents Monday (April 27) for a summit to formalize the end of a border dispute stemming from the 1932-1935 War of the Chaco fought between the two South American neighbors.
    Bolivian President Evo Morales arrived a day early in Argentina to attend a ceremony in his honor on Monday morning at the National University of La Plata (UNLP).
    The public university is located in the city of La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires province, situated 64 kms to the south of Buenos Aires city.
    Morales was being awarded an honorary degree by the UNLP for being a "symbol in the struggle for the defense of Latin American peoples,"
    as well as for being the first constitutional president from an indigenous group.
    The university also lauded Morales for his "exemplary" work on behalf of social movements and for his vision for Latin American integration.
    Morales was elected president of Bolivia, South America's poorest country, in 2005 and has since pursued a leftist agenda based on land and wealth redistribution.
    The platform has roused the ire of conservatives in the country's eastern lowlands who defend market practices for providing the country's wealth in the ranching and soy sectors.
    A new constitution was approved in January that refounded the state as "plurinational" respective of indigenous groups and their traditions.
    UNLP President Gustavo Azpiazu was on hand for the ceremony to honor Morales.
    Speaking in La Plata, Morales took time to embrace fellow leftist movements in the region.

    "I have been asked why has Cuba been expelled from the OAS (Organization of American States). Well I've come up with the resolution. The argument they used in 1942, 1962, excuse me, was that Cuba was expelled because of Marxist-Leninsim. Well, I am declaring myself a Marxist-Leninist.
    Now they can expel me from the OAS," the 49-year old former coca farmer turned president said.
    The 1962 suspension of Cuba from the OAS was much discussed at last week's Summit of the Americas, which was convened by the OAS in Trinidad and Tobago.
    The 34 member states from the Caribbean and Latin America all urged U.S.
    President Barack Obama to terminate Washington's embargo on Cuba.
    Morales was warmly received by those on hand at the university, many of whom included Bolivians living and working in Argentina.
    Later in the day, the foreign ministers of Bolivia and Paraguay formally signed the border demarcation agreement ahead of the meeting with the three presidents.
    The signing ceremony at which the Paraguayan Foreign Minister Alejandro Hamed Franco and his Bolivian counterpart, David Choquehuanca, participated was presided over by Argentine Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Taiana at the Argentine Foreign Affairs Ministry in Buenos Aires.
    Newly installed Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister Mariano Fernandez also looked on at the signing in his role as a guarantor of the agreement, whose ranks also included the United States and Peru among other South American countries.
    The war that came to an end 71 years ago took the lives of over 100,000 people in the fight over the Chaco region incorrectly thought to be rich in oil.
    Though Paraguay emerged from the three-year struggle with much of the territory in question, the Bolivian tract ended up hosting what there was of the petroleum reserves.
    The original 1938 ceasefire was also signed in Buenos Aires, with Monday's events devoted to paying homage to the memory of the war and the consecration of the border lines that were officially confirmed in 2007.
    Closing out the day's meetings was a ceremony at the Argentine Government house, where Argentine President Cristina Fernandez hosted Morales, and his Paraguayan counterpart, Fernando Lugo, to commemorate peace and friendship.
    Fernandez handed over official versions of the accords, which were entitled "Final Memory of the Commission of Demarcation of Borders."
    Speaking at the ceremony, Morales took time to once again praise the new wave of the Latin left of which both he and Lugo are members.

    "If in those times there had been Evo Morales and my fellow president (Fernando Lugo) in Paraguay, I am sure there wouldn't have been any wars," Morales said.
    The cessation of outstanding hostilities was also celebrated by Lugo.

    "With our hopes placed on the much longed for justice, I want to praise the virtue of peace. We are consolidating this peace with the firm will of the two nations and of the governments of Paraguay and Bolivia. The peace is to serve to ensure that never again in our Americas will external vorace cause us to find ourselves opposing each other," said the Paraguayan president, who was known as the "bishop to the poor" for his decades-long pastoral work before he assumed office in 2008.
    Both the then-Standard Oil and Shell Oil firms had vested interests through associated partnerships working in the region at the time in search of petroleum discoveries.
    Lugo's appearance in Buenos Aires comes off the heels of a political crisis for the former bishop, who conceded two weeks ago to fathering a child while still wearing the collar.
    The announcement has prompted more woman to come forward with similar claims regarding their children.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register