United Nations, May 7 (Prensa Latina)

President Evo Morales speaking to the UN on Friday. (photo: Telesur)

"The United States took preference tariffs from Bolivia and we are better off without them," Bolivian President Evo Morales asserted at the UN on Friday.

"No more subjection, I do not fear US blackmailing, impositions or conditions," said Morales during a press conference at the UN headquarters.

I very much hoped that with President Obama the United States would change its policy towards Latin America, but if anything changed it was only the color of the president, he said.

Morales Raises Expectation at UN

Morales visited the UN headquarters to give UN Secretary General the conclusions of the World Conference of the Peoples on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth held in Cochabamba last month.

In his meeting with correspondents accredited to the UN, he ratified that he will attend the upcoming Latin America-European Union summit in Madrid in the wake of confirmation that president of Honduras Porfirio Lobo will not be present in the gathering.

Morales explained that the recent meeting of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) decided that presidents of the region would not attend the Madrid conference if Lobo took part.

He said that "the Bolivian government and the other democratic governments in South America will not recognize the de facto regime in Honduras, as it does not come from democracy but from dictatorship."

My experience as a president shows that where there are foreign military bases, like in Honduras and other South American countries, democracy cannot be guaranteed, said Morales.

In those places where military bases that decide and manipulate the government are located, regional development and integration cannot be guaranteed, he added while reiterating that "we cannot accept military bases."

Prensa Latina