President-elect Evo Morales expects four Nobel Prize winners on inaguration

President-elect Evo Morales expects four Nobel Prize winners, several presidents and leaders of Latin America's leftist social movements to attend his January 22 inauguration as Bolivia's first Indian president, his spokesman said Monday.

The coca farmer and former street activist plans to invite three Nobel Peace Price laureates, former South African President Nelson Mandela, Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala and Adolfo Perez Esquivel of Argentina, along with literature prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez, said Alex Contreras, Morales' spokesman.

"We will be sending the invitations in coordination with the government," Contreras said.

Contreras said Morales has asked outgoing President Eduardo Rodriguez to also send invitations to the leaders of the Landless' Movement of Brazil, Indian movements of Ecuador and the leaders of the "piqueteros," a social protest movement of the jobless in Argentina.

Morales is planning two separate inauguration ceremonies, the official one at the Congress building, in which he will not wear a formal jacket or necktie, followed by one organized as a traditional Indian ritual.

Meanwhile, the outgoing government said it has extended invitations to the presidents of a number of countries, especially from Latin American, including Fidel Castro of Cuba and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, both close friends of Morales, reports CNN.

I.L.