MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivian: Indians in power to stay

In the ancient temple of a lost civilization far from the Government Palace, barefoot Evo Morales will ask Andean gods for help and guidance Saturday on the eve of his inauguration as Bolivia's first Indian president.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to converge on the archaeological remains of the Tiawanacu civilization that flourished around 5,000 B.C. near the shores of Lake Titicaca, 65 kilometers (40 miles) outside of La Paz and at altitude of 3.830 meters above sea level.

There, Morales, will be blessed by Indian priests who consider themselves inheritors of this pre-Incan culture, which had no written language and disappeared mysteriously.

Morales will walk onto the Akapana pyramid, put on a red tunic with gold and black detail, and accept a baton from the priests that symbolizes his Indian leadership. Morales will then walk alone and barefoot into the Kalasasaya temple before coming out of the entrance to greet the crowd.

"Indians in power is the future of Latin America, and if there is to be democracy in Latin America, it will be with Indians in power," Bolivian Vice President-elect Alvaro Garcia Linera said Friday to warm applause from the gathering.

In his address, during the first Encounter of Indigenous Leaders of the Americas Garcia, who is white, said that the region's estimated 300 million indigenous people constitute the "vital nucleus of the regeneration of Latin America."

He said that the Indians cannot be penned-up in "a deputy ministry of culture, in a photographic slide or tourist postcard," as they are now poised to create new societies from Mexico to Chile.

Back in La Paz, where dozens of presidents and dignitaries are expected to witness the inauguration, the highway leading from the airport has swarmed with workers hanging Bolivian flags, filling potholes, covering graffiti and repainting lanes. Roughly 10,000 volunteers joined a downtown cleanup, polishing statues and scraping off ubiquitous campaign posters.

During Sunday's official inauguration, Morales will follow a more modern tradition. He'll be saluted with full military honors outside the Congress, and draped with the bejeweled medals worn by all presidents.

"Most Bolivians don't wear a tie and I'm part of this majority," said Morales, who has been both applauded and criticized for wearing the same striped sweater to meet presidents and royalty on his preinaugural world tour. "It would bother me; it's so tight around your neck I would feel like I was being hung."

1.200 journalist from many countries will cover the presidential event and is estimated than more 200.000 people will be at Plaza de los Heroes front the Government House.