The persistence of rain, which the Bolivian weather services attribute to variations of the phenomenon known as “El Niño”, have caused serious floods, mainly in the east of the country.

The areas especially damaged have been the departments of La Paz, Cochabamba, Beni, Santa Cruz and Chuquisaca.

The rains and floods have caused the collapse of tens of houses, and ruined thousands of hectares of crops.

President Morales linked what happened in Bolivia with the phenomenon of global warming that changes the climate patterns due to the emission of greenhouse gases through a process led by developed countries.

For this reason the President asked the ambassadors and representatives of international agencies to study and discuss the consequences of this problem and said he was interested in the analysis and study of the consequences of climate change in Bolivia, Peru and also in Haiti.

Morales was reelected as the Bolivian President on December 6th. He is promoting a summit on climate change to be held in his Cochabamba in April.

The summit will try to address the issues left unresolved in the summits promoted by the United Nations, focusing on the solutions to climate change from a perspective of Peoples’ and Mother Earth’s rights.