My knee-jerk reaction:
1) Whatever you think of the Catholic face - a head of state altered probably the most important symbol of Christianity and presented it to the head of the faith. That's beyond bizarre.
2) And not only altered it - altered it with the symbols of a political system that has a not great history with that religion.. I'm trying to think - that's like handing CFK an Argentine flag with the British union jack tattooed on the sun.
But I will say a little research and while still a really bad idea IMO - it does seem there is a historical context to it.
[font=Guardian Text Egyptian Web']From the Guardian: "The crucifix was modelled on one owned by Luís Espinal, a Jesuit priest, journalist and leftwing activist who was murdered by paramilitaries in 1980, when Bolivia was under a dictatorship."[/font]