Evo Morales, the president-elect of Bolivia, will travel to Venezuela this week, fresh from a visit to Cuba. But he would have been happy to travel to the US â except that Washington did not invite him, his spokesman said. The Bolivian leader has good relations with Fidel Castro, in Cuba, and Hugo Chavez, in Venezuela, who are both critics of George W Bushâs regime in the US. However, Morales is not opposed to developing ties with the United States, Alex Contreras said on Saturday.Morales, who will also fly to Europe this week, would have gone to Washington as well if he had been asked, Contreras said. His close ties with his Latin peers âdo not aim at an axis of evil; rather, to an axis of goodâ, the spokesman said. âThe president-elect is prepared to talk [to US officials] as long as diplomatic conditions are different from what they have been before,â Contreras said. If that doesn't happen, âunfortunately, relations with the United States can deteriorate badlyâ, he said.
Officials in Washington have been fretting about the relationship between Presidents Morales, Chavez and Castro, which they fear as part of a Latin-American tilt to the left. They are also worried about Morales's opposition to US-led efforts to eradicate coca cultivation in his country. Coca has traditional uses among Indians, not just the cocaine production that the US says it wants to stop.