Evo Morales Quotations

Sooner or later, we will have to recognise that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans.

The relationship between the government of the United States and social and indigenous movements has always been difficult. Not just in Bolivia but worldwide. We need to have bilateral relations characterized by mutual respect.

The most important thing is the indigenous people are not vindictive by nature. We are not here to oppress anybody - but to join together and build Bolivia, with justice and equality.

It's easy for people in an air-conditioned room to continue with the policies of destruction of Mother Earth. We need instead to put ourselves in the shoes of families in Bolivia and worldwide that lack water and food and suffer misery and hunger.

We can pay the ecological debt by changing economic models, and by giving up luxury consumption, setting aside selfishness and individualism, and thinking about the people and the planet Earth.

We can not have equilibrium in this world with the current inequality and destruction of Mother Earth. Capitalism is what is causing this problem and it needs to end.

For me, being leftist means fighting against injustice and inequality but, most of all, we want to live well.

I don't mind being a permanent nightmare for the United States.

Globalization and the neoliberal economic model have already been rejected in Latin America; it simply hasn't been a solution for our people. At the same time, Latin countries like Venezuela and Argentina are anti-imperialist and anti-globalization, and yet their economies are growing again.

In 2006, I entered the presidential palace in the main square of La Paz as the first indigenous president of Bolivia. Our government, under the slogan 'Bolivia Changes,' is committed to ending the colonialism, racism and exclusion that many of our people lived under for many centuries.

All of Africa's resources should be declared resources of the state and managed by the nation. Our experience in Bolivia shows that when you take control of natural resources for the people of the town and village, major world change is possible.

Bolivia is a majority indigenous nation, but that majority has always been excluded.

The new republic should be based on diversity, respect and equal rights for all.

Dialogue is the basis of Indian culture, and we don't want to make any enemies. Political and ideological adversaries, perhaps, but not enemies.

I have a lot of trouble understanding all the detail of finance and administration - but if you combine intellectual and professional capacity with a social conscience, you can change things: countries, structures, economic models, colonial states.

Globalization creates economic policies where the transnationals lord over us, and the result is misery and unemployment.

The way I see it, it's impossible to change things without encountering resistance.

Bolivia's majority Indian population was always excluded, politically oppressed and culturally alienated. Our national wealth, our raw materials, was plundered. Indios were once treated like animals here. In the 1930s and 40s, they were sprayed with DDT to kill the vermin on their skin and in their hair whenever they came into the city.

Natural disasters in Bolivia have been getting worse with the passage of time. It's brought about by a system: the capitalist system, the unbridled industrialization of the resources of the Planet Earth.

We Indians are Latin America's moral reserve. We act according to a universal law that consists of three basic principles: do not steal, do not lie and do not be idle.

Secret bank accounts are for laundering dirty money. Heads of state at the UN should put an end them. That would be the best way of tracking down the drug traffickers.

I want to stress that at no time Bolivia acts untimely or irresponsibly.

We are starting a process of decolonization in Bolivia. All this is bringing about change and we will continue.

As an indigenous leader from Bolivia, I know what exclusion looks like. Before 1952, my people were not allowed to even enter the main squares of Bolivia's cities, and there were almost no indigenous politicians in government until the late 1990s.

I never wore a tie voluntarily, even though I was forced to wear one for photos when I was young and for official events at school. I used to wrap my tie in a newspaper, and whenever the teacher checked I would quickly put it on again. I'm not used to it. Most Bolivians don't wear ties.

We want to overcome our historical problems with Chile. The sea has divided us and the sea must bring us back together again. Chile has agreed, for the first time, to talk about sea access for Bolivia.

Imagine what our planet would look like with an increase in temperature of two degrees or four degrees, given that at 0.8 degrees we already have serious problems in the world.

Historically, foreign powers have always been the ones to keep Latin nations divided.

This is a coca leaf. This is not cocaine. This represents the culture of indigenous people of the Andean region.

I have a lot of hope for the Constituent Assembly.

The Bolivian government has promised to guarantee autonomy in the framework of unity, legality, and with the goal of equalizing the different regions of Bolivia. It's right there in the constitution.

The peoples of the Andes believe in the concept of 'living well' instead of wanting to 'live better' by consuming more, regardless of the cost to our neighbors and our environment.

We are here to share in the fight that starts in the communities and barrios.

We are here to resolve social problems, economic problems. This movement is not only in Bolivia; Fidel in Cuba and Hugo in Venezuela are logging triumphs in social movements and leftist policies.

We are here to resolve social problems, economic problems.

I forgive the people in the White House for their numerous humiliations and accusations. I forgive because we must embark, through dialogue, on the search for peace and social justice.

The people who are responsible must be punished harshly. Disarming a country and its armed forces really is a crime.

It is something we will have to deal with. We will deepen investigation and the Justice will have to try army officers under charges of treason .

We never requested this auction to be set back as it's important for the country. It's important that we seek investment.

We are going to strengthen relations with state oil companies ... We are going to guarantee that partners have all the right to recover their investment.

We are not a government of mere promises, we follow through on what we propose and what the people demand.

The contracts were signed when a barrel of oil cost 18.0 or 19.0 dollars, whereas nowadays a barrel is more than 60.0 dollars.

We were right when we denounced the episode and when we tried to impeach the Commander in Chief (President Eduardo Rodriguez). The facts prove now that we were right.

We will always be open to dialogue. We can talk with Bush, but also with (Cuban President) Fidel Castro.

We are going to change Bolivia, we are going to change Latin America.

The work groups will draw up commercial and cooperation agreements.

There will not be zero coca, but there will be zero cocaine.

Thank you very much. I'd like to visit you, Mr. President.

That's how life is in peasant families. What luck that three of us survived!

This is a political and social triumph as well as a union triumph and shows that our struggle has not been in vain.

The U.S. should be equally responsible for diminishing the cocaine market within the United States as it is in fighting the drug elsewhere.

This is a democratic revolution and we will answer the Bolivian people's call.

They're won't be zero coca, but there will by zero drug trafficking.

As with any country, we have the right to manage our own resources. This doesn't mean expelling foreign companies or expropriating foreign property. Foreign companies have every right to recover investments and make profits, but profits should be balanced.

Its a question of sharing the country's situation among us all.

Everyone knows that the court is a product of the old parties. If I were a member of that court, I would resign.

It's not about conquering, it's about convincing, persuading about our concrete proposals with transparency and honesty.

I haven't come here to ask for anything, just for advice and orientation. He (Silva) is a great companion of mine. As a Latin American, he is my brother.

In 2005, before I was president, the state of Bolivia had only $300 million from hydrocarbons. Last year, 2007, the Bolivian state - after the nationalization, after changing the law - Bolivia received $1,930 million. For a small country with nearly 10 million inhabitants, this allows us to increase the national economy.

Some take advantage of natural resources to put the capital in the hands of the few, while some use these natural resources to benefit the majority, as we do in Bolivia.

State control is important for the people who have always been excluded from the claims of social and economic development.

In Bolivia there are Catholic, Evangelical, Methodist, Baptist churches, and so on. In Bolivia there are indigenous religious beliefs like the rite of Pachamama Mother Earth, which shows us that Mother Earth is our life, we are born out of the Earth we live on the Earth and return to the Earth.

Now we are immersed in deep democratic revolutions, for the recovery of our resources, and to transform a resource into a basic human right. And that is spread around the world.

The United States is using its war on drugs as an excuse to expand its control over Latin America.

We nationalize hydrocarbons, so now the economy is improving and the fight against poverty is also improving in Bolivia.

From my standpoint, coca should be neither destroyed nor completely legalized. Farming should be controlled by the state and by the coca farmers' unions.

With our goddess, the Pachamama, and it is not possible to continue having a monopoly of religious faith, only Catholic. We have therefore adopted the new constitution as a secular state where all religious beliefs will be respected.

I'm much more convinced that the hierarchy comes from the monarchy, and that the hierarchy stays apart from the oligarchy. So the oligarchy is hurtful to the majority in Bolivia.

I am Catholic but I want to say something to the Catholics. Thank you for some of the bishops who live in rural areas, and are still Catholic. These bishops of the Catholic churches still pray for the poor, and pray for their president who works for the poor, while the leaders of the Catholic Church only defend oligarchy.

Almost everyone is bald. And thats because of what they eat.

I am not accustomed to protocol.

Capitalism has only hurt Latin America.

When the United States was in control of counternarcotics, the US governments used drug trafficking for purely geopolitical purposes .... The US uses drug trafficking and terrorism for political control .... We have nationalised the fight against drug trafficking.

I don't accept armed struggle. Maybe it was the way in the '50s and '60s, but we want a democratic revolution...

I have no regrets - in fact, I am pleased to have expelled the US ambassador, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and to have closed the US military base in Bolivia. Now, without a US ambassador, there is less conspiracy, and more political stability and social stability. Without the International Monetary Fund, we are better off economically.

To talk only about national security, national defense, means to be selfish, ambitious. It is discrimination, isolation. "It is just me. What do I care about others?"

I am quite an admirer of Fidel [Castro]. For me, Fidel is the first and the best man in solidarity with the peoples of the world. Fidel shares not just what he does not need, but every little thing he has. That is called solidarity.

I'm just the democratic voice of Bolivia.

70 to 80 percent of country economy is controlled by the Bolivian state, and the other percentage by the private sector. We admit that it's legal, constitutional, that the private sector is entitled to its own economy, but to ensure these profound changes that clearly this government is promoting, including profound changes in the food industry, what we are doing is an important step.

Bolivia also depends not only on tin and other minerals, but also depends on the gas and oil. A rational extraction should be made, taking care of the environment. We should give added value to this natural resource, and generate revenue to fight poverty with more resources, that come from natural resources.

I am Catholic. But I am opposed to a monopoly when it comes to faith.

Lithium is like a beautiful lady, very much sought and pursued, especially in Bolivia. There is data indicating Bolivia has the largest reserves of lithium in the world.

We are going forward with the idea of a multicultural , a multinational state, trying to live in unity, at the same time respecting our diversity...But we need to all come together so we can live united.

The capitalist system only allows us to heap up waste. I would like to propose that the trillions of money earmarked for war should be channeled to make good the damage to the environment, to make reparations to the earth.

In this new millennium it is more important to defend the rights of the Mother Earth to guarantee human rights.

The 21st of December marks the end of the time and the beginning of no-time

If governments do not ensure that, the peoples through their own efforts will ensure these changes, what we call communitarian socialism.

In Latin America, in the past, it was almost impossible to guarantee democracy. There were military dictatorships, and nowadays there are not so many military dictatorships. Although we have a dictator in Honduras, as a result of a coup, now as a president, he is almost the only one I would say. But again led or managed, gestated by the U.S. government.

Some countries of Europe have to free themselves from the US Empire. They are not going to frighten us because we are a people with dignity and sovereignty.

Chile needs Bolivian natural resources and Bolivia needs access to the sea. Under those circumstances, it must be possible to find a solution in the interest of both countries.

We have raised an issue that is already in the Bolivian constitution, that water is a universal human right. And we asked the United Nations to recognize water as a human right.

Playing sports has always been my greatest pleasure. I don't smoke, I hardly drink alcohol. Sports helped get me into the presidential palace. My first position in the union was that of sports secretary.

In Bolivia, we want to overcome our historical problems with Chile. The sea has divided us and the sea must bring us back together again.

I don't debate with liars.

The chicken that we eat is chock-full of feminine hormones. So, when men eat these chickens, they deviate from themselves as men.

I learned that the political is above the legal, that's why when my advisors tell me, Evo, what you are doing is illegal, I say, if it is illegal, then do it legal, you have studied for that".

The fight against drug trafficking is a false pretext for the United States to install military bases.

Baldness that appears to be normal is a disease in Europe, almost all of them are bald, and that is because of the things they eat; while among the indigenous peoples there are no bald people, because we eat other things

Capitalism is the worst enemy of humanity

I am sure of the fact that Fidel and Chávez are commanders of the forces of freedom in America, to liberate America and the world.