By CLINT CHAN TACK Wednesday, April 15 2009

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TRINI BOUND: This file photo showing (from left) Venezuela president Hugo Chavez, Ecuador's president Rafael Correa and Bolivian President Evo Morales...

BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT Evo Morales yesterday confirmed he will be in Trinidad on Friday to attend the Fifth Summit of the Americas. Confirmation of Morales’ attendance was given to Newsday by Trade and Industry Minister Mariano Browne, who is the head of an inter- ministerial committee overseeing preparations for the summit.

Morales ended his five-day hunger strike yesterday, one day after Prime Minister Patrick Manning said some crab and callaloo, corn soup and a bake and shark could whet Morales’ appetite enough for him to end his hunger strike and attend the summit.

The Bolivian president began his hunger strike on April 9 after Opposition lawmakers in the Andean nation refused to pass a law which guaranteed increased representation in Congress for Bolivia’s indigenous communities who broadly support Morales, an Ayamara Indian and close ally of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Yesterday after Bolivia’s Congress approved this law which allows Morales to stand for re-election on December 6, reserves 14 seats for indigenous candidates and gives expatriates the right to vote.

Addressing a news conference at the presidential palace in La Paz moments after ending his hunger strike, Morales said: “The Bolivian people will never forget this revolutionary process.” He then participated in a rally before leaving for Caracas to attend the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) which began yesterday and ends today.

Browne confirmed that Morales’ will be here for the summit. “Yes. There are always some domestic political issues that heads have to attend to. We expect everybody (all 34 leaders) to be here. There may be some differences in terms of the times in which they might arrive but we expect everybody to arrive.”