[Washington Times] Martin Arostegui - "Bolivia is a peaceful nation that would never aid an effort by Iran or any other country to develop nuclear weapons," said Presidency Minister Juan Ramon Quintana. However, Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, has exchanged state visits with Iranian President Ahmadinejad and signed up to $1.2 billion in joint ventures. "We need to ask what Iran's real interest is in Bolivia," said Roman Loayza, a dissident from Morales' ruling party, the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), who is running against Morales in presidential elections scheduled for December. Morales has said that Iran wants to build a radio and TV station in his home district of Chapare to "support the peasant struggle in South America." Iranian movies are regularly broadcast over Bolivia's state-run TV channel and a Muslim preacher even delivered services at a state-sponsored event earlier this month.
2009-07-27 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive