Bolivias President-elect, left-wing Evo Morales, says he will scrap his countrys indigenous affairs ministry, BBC Online reports Thursday.
Mr Morales, an Aymara Indian who on Sunday will become the poor Andean countrys first indigenous president, said the ministry amounted to a form of discrimination.
He said the ministry for women would be abolished for the same reason, adding that his cabinet would include Indian leaders and women.
In Bolivia, indigenous people represent more than 60 per cent of the population.
About two-thirds of the South American countrys estimated 3,9 million Indians are among the poorest 50 percent of the population, according to the World Bank.
Mr Morales has said in the past that one of his priorities will be to seek more rights for Bolivias indigenous majority. – Here, the indigenous people will be ministers, he said on Wednesday adding:
– Someone said that when we Quechuas and Aymaras were in government we would make a ministry for white people, but we will not discriminate.
