Bolivia’s leftist government turns Congress building clock backward

LA PAZ, Bolivia – Bolivia’s leftist government is turning back the clock. Or, more precisely, turning it backward.

The government this week flipped the clock atop the Congress building so that while it’s accurate, the hands now turn to the left, a direction known elsewhere as counterclockwise.

Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca announced the modification Tuesday. He said it was only logical that a clock in the Southern Hemisphere should turn in the opposite direction of a Northern Hemisphere clock.

The president of Congress, Marcelo Elio, on Wednesday called the reform “a clear expression of the de-colonization of the people” under President Evo Morales, who became the country’s first indigenous president when he won office in 2005 and is up for re-election in October.

Vice President Alvaro Garcia said the government is thinking about similarly modifying all clocks at public institutions.

Political opponents denounced the move.

Opposition lawmaker Norma Pierola said the government “wishes to change the universal laws of time.”

Samuel Doria Medina, the cement and fast-food magnate expected to be Morales’ main challenger in October, called the switch a sign “that things are regressing.”’

Morales has made other attempts to shed colonial influence, giving native Andean beliefs equal weight with Christianity.