Sawt Falasteen - Bolivia's new president takes over, inherits economic mess

Paz, the 58-year-old son of a former president, drew applause at the swearing-in ceremony at the Bolivian seat of congress as a torrential downpour fell outside.

"God, family and country: yes, I take the oath of office," said Paz, who won a run-off election last month.

In his inauguration speech, he later said Bolivia would now be different and open to the world after two decades of leftist rule that many here blame for the country's economic ills.

Under Evo Morales, in office from 2006 to 2019, Bolivia took a sharp turn to the left, nationalizing energy resources, breaking ties with Washington and making alliances with China, Russia and fellow leftists in Cuba, Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America.

Paz has vowed to restore ties with the United States.

"Never again an isolated Bolivia, bound by failed ideologies, or a Bolivia with its back turned to the world," Paz said during a ceremony attended by delegations from more than 70 countries and local VIPs.

Paz will have to address Bolivia's worst economic crisis in 40 years, with year-on-year inflation at more than 20 percent and a chronic shortage of fuel and dollars.

Long queues for motorists seeking to fill their tanks have become a way of life.

The outgoing government of Luis Arce exhausted almost all of Bolivia's hard currency reserves to prop up a policy of gasoline and diesel subsidies.

On the campaign trail, the Christian Democrat Paz promised a "capitalism for all" approach to economic reform, with decentralization, lower taxes and fiscal discipline mixed with continued social spending.

He also promised to maintain social programs while stabilizing the economy, but economists have said the two things are not possible at the same time.

K.AbuTaha--SF-PST