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.

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.

I have a lot of hope for the Constituent Assembly.

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.

There are countries that send us garbage. There are countries that send us their outdated technology as their cooperation. With Fidel [Castro] it is totally different. Fidel is the first and the best one to stand for peace in the world denouncing the interventionist policies of the U.S.

[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.

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