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LOS ANGELES - Political satirist Jon Stewart, host of the popular mock cable TV newscast The Daily Show, will interview Bolivian President Evo Morales on the program tomorrow, the show's network has announced.
The guest spot by Morales will mark only the second appearance on the Emmy-winning show by a sitting head of state, following Stewart's interview a year ago of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, president of Pakistan and a key US ally.
Bolivia's leftist leader is a staunch critic of the Bush administration, along with Latin American presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Fidel Castro of Cuba. He is in New York to attend the UN General Assembly.
In a first for The Daily Show, Stewart will conduct his interview of Morales through an interpreter, who will translate the host's questions from English to Spanish and the Bolivian leader's answers from Spanish back to English, a network spokesman said.
The Bolivian president, the first indigenous leader of his nation, has faced fierce opposition from rightist political rivals and sometimes-violent street protests in recent months.
He has accused Bolivia's wealthy elite of trying to block his leftist reforms because they resent an Indian leading the nation. Last month, he charged the Bush administration was funneling US aid to groups linked to his political opponents, which Washington has denied.
In another move sure to rankle the US government, Bolivia said on Monday it would host a visit this week by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to tighten diplomatic ties and sign energy and industrial aid agreements.
Still, the United States decided earlier this month not to include Bolivia, the world's third-largest cocaine producer, on its list of countries singled out for economic sanctions for failing to meet their counter-narcotics commitments.
While The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is best known as a satiric comedy show that skewers US politicians and the media, the program's host generally plays it fairly straight when interviewing newsmakers.
Former President Jimmy Carter appeared on the show in December 2005 and former President Bill Clinton has come on three times, most recently last Thursday. Stewart also recently interviewed former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who was promoting a book.
A spokesman for the Viacom-owned Comedy Central network said Morales interview would be taped Tuesday afternoon and air later that night.
- REUTERS
