LA PAZ. Aug 7: Mining executive Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada was sworn in as Bolivia's 78th president Friday. Aymara Indian intellectual Victor Hugo Cardenas became vice president, reports AP.

"We arc consolidating democracy in Bolivia and we have gained a stable political and economic climate that is a solid base to go forward," Sanchez de Lozada told a Joint session of Congress after he was sworn in.

He called for a democracy based on “peace, change with order and order with change. The state must respond to the needs of man. Hopefully soon children will be able to go to bed without hunger In their eyes.

Attending the ceremony were presidents Fidel Castro of Cuba, Carlos Saul Menem of Argentina. Alberto Fujimori of Peru, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia and President-elect Juan Carlos Wasmosy of Paraguay. Also attending was Nobel Peace prize laureate Rigobcrts Menchu.