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[August 29, 2009]

Morales named "World Hero of Mother Earth" by UN General Assembly

La Paz, Aug 29, 2009 (EFE via COMTEX) -- The president of the United Nations General Assembly, Rev. Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, on Saturday declared Bolivian President Evo Morales as "World Hero of Mother Earth" in a ceremony at the presidential palace in this capital.

With a medal and a parchment scroll, the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization named Morales "the maximum exponent and paradigm of love for Mother Earth" in the resolution for his decoration that was read during the ceremony.

The document added that the decision was taken "after extensive consultation" among representatives of the General Assembly's member countries.

D'Escoto recalled that Morales "was the one who most helped" the United Nations declare last April 22 as International Mother Earth Day, or "Pachamama" as Mother Earth is said in Bolivia's Aymara Indian tongue.

For his part, the president said that the honor is not for Evo Morales, "but for our ancestors and the native peoples" that "have always defended Mother Earth." He added that he will continue trying to get the international community to acknowledge the rights of Mother Earth.

Besides Morales, the former Cuban head of state Fidel Castro has been named "World Hero of Solidarity" and the late ex-president of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere, will be honored as "World Hero of Social Justice." "What we want to do is present these three people to the world and say that they embody virtues and values worth emulation by all of us," said D'Escoto, who like the socialist Morales is a staunch critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.

D'Escoto was elected president of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly on June 4, 2008, and was Nigaraguan foreign minister during the first Sandinista government from 1979 to 1990.

EFE gb/cd

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