Bolivian vote puts dent in U.S. clout

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - The unexpectedly strong showing of radical Indian agitator Evo Morales in Bolivian elections promises to deal a serious blow to the Andean nation's successful U.S.-backed efforts to halt cocaine production.

Morales, an Aymara Indian, campaigned on an anti-United States platform and the promise to reverse Bolivia's efforts to eradicate coca, the plant from which cocaine is made.

Preliminary returns from Sunday's presidential election, announced Monday, showed Morales battling for third place in the presidential race, with about 17 percent of the vote. Because the presidential voting determines the award of Senate seats under Bolivian law, that strong finish will give his Movement to Socialism party as many as six seats in Bolivia's 27-member Senate. That in turn will put him in strong position to thwart new legislation to punish those who grow the coca bush.

Support for Morales surged following comments from the U.S. ambassador effectively warning voters away from Morales.

Morales trailed leaders Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and Manfred Reyes Villa by less than five percentage points and declared his strong showing ``a moral victory.''

Interviewed in the capital of La Paz days before the election, Bolivian anti-drug czar Oswaldo Antezana told Knight Ridder that Morales ``could undo everything we have done.'' Bolivia has eradicated more than 90,000 acres of coca cultivation since 1998 and taken more than 230 tons of cocaine out of the global illicit drug market.