Enero 22, 2006
First Act
Live on CNN en Español, Evo's speech dragged for two hours. When he was up to speak, an aide pulled out a folder with what appeared to be a prepared text. Great, I thought, this speech was going to be serious and something historic to rally the entire country towards working for a common goal. From the very beginning, Evo winged the entire thing, much as was his practice during the campaign. A lot of the topics just re-hashed old wounds calling out certain people. For example, he criticized the Corte Nacional Electoral for the erasing of names on voter lists (which was legal) and some television channels for participating in the mudslinging.
All of that is in the past, it's time to move forward.
The text that was on the podium was notes for the section of Morales' speech which was said in Quechua and Aymara. That was the first time I have ever seen Morales speak in a language other than Spanish.
I was very disappointed in the speech. The historic and poignant moment was spoiled by the speech that had a stream of consciousness feel to it. One moment he was talking about land reform and the next he was referring to the poor job that the old politicians did in previous administrations.
Prior to the speech, Morales received the presidential sash and medallion from the Vice-President. When it appeared that he finally realized that he was President of Bolivia, Morales almost broke down in tears. The look on his face was quite moving as everything these past 10 years culminated in that moment.
Posted by eduardo at Enero 22, 2006 08:29 PM