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CARACAS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua)-- Bolivian President Evo Morales called for unity among the people of Latin America to stop the "imperialist onset" against the region.
In an interview with the press at the 17th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Venezuela, Morales highlighted the urgency of maintaining the unity and integration promoted by former Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez.
"I continue to believe that the best homage to Chavez is unity. Unity will always be the triumph of the people of Latin America," he said from the island of Margarita, where the NAM Summit is being held.
"The rotating presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement must be in the hands of anti-imperialist countries and governments," said Morales, adding that he wishes great success to his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, whose country holds the presidency for the next three years.
According to Morales, Venezuela will guarantee a representation for non-aligned countries, adding he wants to apply for Bolivia to take the NAM presidency in 2019.
The Bolivian leader said that two models are facing each other in Latin America, the capitalist model and the humanist model, which focuses on social needs above all and where human beings are seen as greater than wealth.
"The best way to defend our revolutions is with unity and conscience. They will try to divide us as always, with aggression, and we have the obligation to defeat them while thinking of our future," he said.
"There is a profound difference...of privatizers versus nationalizers," concluded Morales, also pointing to regional leaders such as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez whom he called "the liberating force of our continent."
Founded in Belgrade in 1961, NAM is a group of states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. As of now, the group has 120 members, 17 observer states and 10 observer organizations.
