MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Morales inaugurates presidential jet and former Miss Bolivia as special envoy

Former Miss Bolivia, Jessica Anne Jordan Burton

Bolivian President Evo Morales has a new presidential aircraft, a Falcon 900EX manufactured by the French company Dassault. The Bolivian Air Force One was delivered by Philippe Létrilliart, France’s Chargé d’Affairs in La Paz during a ceremony at the air base of El Alto.

The aircraft has a cost of 37.8 million US dollars and was originally ordered by Manchester United which finally desisted from the purchase.

“This aircraft is not an expression of luxury, but a tool to work”, said President Morales who is one of the Bolivian leaders who most has travelled while in office.

The three engine aircraft with a ten hour autonomy can carry 12/14 passenger arrived to La Paz on Friday and before the official delivery was subject to an Aymara chamanes (priests from Morales ethnic group) ceremony asking for protection from the Andean gods.

The Bolivian president acknowledged that usually when travelling overseas he had to request for a ride from Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil or Argentina.

Whether Morales requested protection from the Andean gods for another initiative is not known but the single president has now as a special envoy: a former Miss Bolivia.

Jessica Anne Jordan Burton, 26, who takes her surname from her English father, was handpicked by Morales, 50, to be his personal representative in one of his country’s most hostile regions.

Her job as the new development chief for the border province of Beni, a restive jungle backwater plagued with right-wing separatists, ethnic Indian militants, and Colombian narco-traffickers, entails lavishing cash on the region.

Ms Jordan Burton will now be managing a budget of 700 million dollars to build highways, schools, hospitals and sanitation, and the job means that she will be at risk of assassination from Morale's political enemies.

Interviewed by the foreign press Jessica Anne said she did not fear for her safety although the family is afraid of what might happen.

But “I feel that the people want to work with me that they have confidence in me. I feel like I'm in my place. It's my destiny” she added revealing that she always had ambitions to hold office and that for her the catwalk was merely a step ladder.

“I was always more interested in politics than in becoming a beauty queen,” she insisted. “I saw the title of Miss Bolivia as a step ladder towards a political career. Being a beauty queen in Bolivia is very important. You learn a lot. You become a sort of ambassador,” she added.