Reply #7: Bolivia's Morales says elites resent Indian power

[Judi Lynn]

Bolivia's Morales says elites resent Indian power
Sun Sep 16, 2007 9:18pm BST
By Eduardo Garcia

RIBERALTA, Bolivia, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Bolivian President Evo Morales says wealthy elites are trying to block his leftist reforms because they do not like having an Indian leading the South American country.

Less than two years since becoming Bolivia's first indigenous leader, Morales is facing fierce opposition from rightist rivals and sometimes-violent street protests have flared in the poor nation in recent months.

Morales, who herded llamas in the Andes as a boy before farming coca, told Reuters in an interview discrimination persisted against the indigenous majority in Bolivia.

"What worries me most are the actions of the oligarchy, the dirty war. Discrimination continues," he said late on Saturday on a military plane from the Amazon town of Riberalta.

"In some cities, groups of people talk about wearing out the Indian, knocking the Indian out ... They cannot accept that an Indian is governing well," said Morales, dressed in jeans.

More:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN1626598520070916