BOLIVIA: Bolivian President Evo Morales attends historic assembly to change the country's constitution and says Castro has 'recovered' from surgery

As indigenous leaders joined Bolivian President Evo Morales in the picturesque mountains of Sucre for a historic constituent assembly-- the first meeting to rewrite the country's constitution-- Morales said on Saturday (August 5) that Cuban leader Fidel Castro has "recovered" from surgery. Constitutional reform was a key election promise by indigenous president Evo Morales, and was demanding by the social groups that have toppled two governments in the last three years. He has billed the effort as a way to cement leftist reforms and empower the poor, indigenous majority. Morales' Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera said democracy was not the answer. "Bolivia has lived through processes of terrible convulsions in the past six years because democracy has not satisfied the people's demands, because democracy has not benefitted its citizens economically, because democracy has not worried about the jobs, health and education of its votes," he told the audience. "This the great historic challenge of this generation." Morales secured a majority in the constitutional assembly by winning more than 60 percent of referendum vote that decided the make-up of the body, and he is vowing to use that position to give indigenous communities the right to manage their land and resources, administer local government following their traditions and make the learning of indigenous languages compulsory in schools. He also wants to make changes that will increase state control over all natural resources, after already nationalizing the country's energy industry back in May. "But now, today, tomorrow, after tomorrow, another time begins, a time of change, a time in search of social justice, a time in search of equality for freedom for our peoples," Morales said to lawmakers. Morales added his best wishes for a speedy recovery to his ally, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who he said has "recovered" from surgery. "I want to express my enormous satisfaction for the cooperation of the Cuban people and their commander and their president who we hope will reincorporate himself as soon as possible. He has already recovered, but what is now lacking is that he return to running the country," he told the audience that included Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage. "And from here, we wish that he return to running the country as soon as possible." Lage earlier in the day said Castro was on the mend from a surgery the government said was performed to stop gastrointestinal bleeding. And in Cuba, party officials who asked not to be identified, said they were told that Fidel Castro was doing well for a man his age, had eaten and sat up. On Monday, Cuban government officials announced that the "Comandante" had provisionally given power to his 75-year-old younger brother Raul Castro. . Castro has not been seen in public since July 26 and Raul Castro has not surfaced since the handover of power, triggering uncertainty about Cuba's future and speculation that Fidel Castro's 47-year Communist rule could be drawing to a close.

ITN Source | August 6, 2006

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