JCP delegation meets with MAS members of Bolivia’s National Congress

   Japanese Communist Party Vice Chair Ogata Yasuo in Bolivia held talks with Edmundo Novillo Aguilar, president of the Chamber of Deputies of the Bolivian National Congress on September 5.

   Novillo welcomed the JCP delegation’s visit and the establishment of relations between the JCP and the Movement towards Socialism (MAS), and explained that Bo;ivia is at a crucial juncture in political change. He stated that the task now is for the National Congress to mobilize people of all strata, including indigenous people, farmers, workers, and intellectuals, and to work harder in the interest of the nation as a whole.

   Gustavo Torrico Landa, the leader of the MAS Congress delegation, was present at the talks.

   Ogata also met with the governing MAS group of senators at the parliament house.

   Topics ranged from tasks and bills that MAS senators are tackling to discussions concerning social movements, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and nuclear weapons issues.

   Unlike in Asia and Africa, Latin American countries have been virtually under U.S. control although they became independent in the 19th century, but they are steadily moving towards true independence, said Ogata.

   MAS holds 12 out of 27 seats in the Senate, and most of them were present at this meeting.                                                                       - Akahata, September 7, 2007