JURIST - Paper Chase: Bolivia president promises justice for indigenous people in inauguration speech

[JURIST] Newly-elected Bolivian president Evo Morales [official website; BBC profile] addressed the nation during his inauguration speech [excerpts] Sunday and promised to promote justice for indigenous Bolivian Indians, saying that they had been discriminated against and "never recognized as human beings." Morales, who became the first indigenous person elected president of Bolivia in December, is the third president in recent years. He replaces Eduardo Rodriguez, the former head of the Supreme Court, who took office [JURIST report] in June 2005 following weeks of leftist and indigenous protests demanding nationalizations to protect the country's vast natural resources and constitutional changes [JURIST report] to give the poor greater representation. Morales is an outspoken proponent for legalized cultivation of coca and the nationalization of the oil and gas industry. AFP has more.

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