‘We are forming the axis of good’
• Says President Hugo Chávez on receiving Evo Morales in Caracas

CARACAS.— On his arrival in Caracas for a brief visit, Evo Morales, the Bolivian president-elect affirmed that he would fight for the poor and indigenous in order to achieve the "second liberation of Latin America," according to a DPA correspondent in the Venezuelan capital.

"We are committed to fighting for the poor and the indigenous peoples... We are going to continue this struggle until Bolivia and Latin America are liberated. Fortunately, we can count on many social and political movements that have joined this struggle for the second liberation of our Latin America, like our ancestors did, especially (the Venezuelan liberator) Simón Bolívar," Morales stated to journalists.

The news agency reported that the president elect is in Venezuela "to incorporate himself into this anti-neoliberal and anti-imperialist battle" also being fought in Cuba and Venezuela in these "new times."

Shortly before receiving Morales at Maiquetía airport, Hugo Chávez announced that he will support Morales in his government plans to "restore the dignity" of that southern country. "We are going to talk about state law, the law of productive land, of citizens’ security, industrial sovereignty, the transformation of education and the revaluation of culture; these are the projects of Evo’s government, we are going to talk about all of this and of how Venezuela can modestly support the government of Evo and the Bolivian people in what Evo has well described as the salvation of Bolivian dignity, the Bolivian Bolivia, Bolivarian, the new Bolivia," he said.

Chávez rejected U.S. accusations that he is proposing to form an "axis of evil" with Bolivia, affirming that "the axis of evil is Washington and its allies in the world who threaten, invade, kill and murder; we are forming the axis of good. The axis of the new century."

Prensa Latina commented that Evo Morales’ victory signifies the reinforced existence of a new type of Latin American alliance, whose proposal is a political structure with a greater popular component.

Morales himself – wearing a short-sleeved shirt as a sign of the new times – specified in his first words on this visit to Venezuela that it is about completing the dream of the liberator Simón Bolívar, that of the great homeland of America.

"The triumph of Latin America is a fact", Morales stated, while ratifying his decision to respond his electoral win with more than 50% of the vote by leading a government in favor of the poor and indigenous people.