Bolivians Support Evo Morales

A new survey published on Sunday ratified the high popularity of Bolivian President Evo Morales, who is supported by 75 percent of the people, compared to the election decline by traditional parties.

The survey, carried out by the private company Equipos Mori, was carried out in the country´s five largest cities and its results were published in the weekly La Epoca.

The newspaper says that Morales´ 75-percent support can be considered high, despite a slight six-point decline compared to July 2005.

The same survey showed that 61 percent of those polled considers that the country has taken a good path under the Morales government, and 65 percent thinks that corruption has decreased during the current administration.

That support has resulted from the popular measures taken by the government, including the Agrarian Revolution, which will pave the way for a participative process that includes the mechanization of agriculture, after an emergent program to give fiscal lands to farmers, according to Land Deputy Minister Alejandro Almaraz.

Almaraz told the Cochabamba-based newspaper Los Tiempos that the new distribution of land will be based on consultations with social sectors and municipal authorities.

He added that the implementation of the agrarian reform kicked off in 1953 has failed and the majority of more than 80 million dollars invested over the past decade went to private companies hired for that purpose.

Over the past ten years, only 10.6 million hectares of land, barely 10 percent of the national territory, were distributed.

According to Almaraz, after announcing the new decree, the government will set the goal of verifying the legality of property until 2011 and the economic and social use of 96 million hectares out of a total of 106 million hectares, a process that will allow consolidating the right to agrarian property.