Bolivian president's new £27million glitzy skyscraper residence featuring a Jacuzzi and massage room is blasted as an 'insult' to one of South America's poorest countries

  • Evo Morales hailed the new building as a break from the country's colonial past
  • The new 29-storey glass-fronted tower also includes a gym, sauna and a helipad
  • Critics said Morales was trying to 'immortalise' himself at the country's expense 

By Tim Stickings For Mailonline and Ap

Published: | Updated:

Bolivia's president has moved into a lavish £27million skyscraper with a jacuzzi and massage room amid protests that the money is not being spent on tackling poverty.

The 29-storey building, which is also said to include a gym, sauna and a private lift for the country's leader Evo Morales, looms 394 feet over the country's capital La Paz. 

Morales hailed a break with the country's colonial past as the modern glass-frounted building replaces the 16th-century Palacio Quemado as the centre of Bolivia's government.

But the building has been slammed by critics who said Morales was trying to 'immortalise' himself at the expense of much-needed investment in public services, the Guardian reported. 

Morales' former skyscraper presidential palace in Bolivia looming over the city of La Paz

The new presidential palace in Bolivia looming over the city of La Paz. The country's leader Evo Morales hailed the new building as a break from the country's colonial past 

Political analyst Carlos Toranzo told the newspaper: 'It's an insult to the country'. 

'[Morales] wants to immortalise himself with a building which is not only anti-aesthetic but also anti-ethical.'  

Samuel Doria, the leader of the country's opposition, said the money for the new building should be spent on a cancer hospital instead. 

The president reportedly used his majority in parliament to bypass a ban on high-rise buildings in the centre of La Paz.  

Morales said at the building's inauguration: 'Sisters and brothers, it is a joy to be with the Bolivian people inaugurating this beautiful work for the people of La Paz and Bolivia, it is a symbol of our identity and nationality.

'We leave behind the palace of a colonial state to come here to the People's Great House of the plurinational state of Bolivia.

'It's another historic milestone thanks to the struggle of the Bolivian people.' 

The country's state news agency described the former presidential palace, known as the Burned Palace since it was set alight in 1875, as a symbol of colonial oppression. 

President Evo Morales (pictured) is planning to run for a fourth term despite opposition 

President Evo Morales (pictured) is planning to run for a fourth term despite opposition 

Morales has moved out of the Palacio Quemado (pictured), a 16th-century colonial building 

Morales has moved out of the Palacio Quemado (pictured), a 16th-century colonial building 

Work started on the new 'Case Grande del Pueblo' in December 2014, with the new building also including an auditorium, a helipad and three underground floors.  

Last year Bolivia's highest court cleared the way for Morales to run for a fourth term in office. 

Morales narrowly lost a referendum in February 2016 on whether the constitution should be revised to allow him to run yet again in 2019.

But the constitutional court ruled in November last year that a human rights convention guaranteed the right of citizens to be elected through the ballot box. 

Morales, who is Bolivia's first indigenous president, was first elected in 2005 and re-elected in 2009 and 2014. 

Bolivia's constitution allows only two consecutive terms in office but the court earlier ruled that his first term did not count because Morales did not complete the full five-year term before a new constitution took effect in 2009.   

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