Bolivian president urges elections, protests swell
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-08 15:53

Bolivian President Carlos Mesa, who offered to resign to defuse weeks of indigenous protests, on Tuesday urged early elections after tens of thousands of miners and peasants descended on La Paz to demand nationalization of the country's energy resources.

Police fired tear gas to disperse miners, who lobbed sticks of dynamite and rocks during the growing protests calling for state control of Bolivia's natural gas reserves and constitutional reforms for more representation for the poor Indian majority.

Bolivian workers of Caracoles mine run from tear gas during protests in La Paz June 7, 2005. Tens of thousands of Bolivian peasants and miners marched through La Paz on Tuesday despite President Carlos Mesa's offer to resign as some opposition leaders urged early elections to end the crisis gripping the country. [Reuters]

In a dramatic late-night broadcast, Mesa appealed to the Congress president and lower parliament chamber chief to step aside and allow early elections to halt protests that have blockaded La Paz and other cities.

"The country can not continue playing with the possibility of splitting into a thousand pieces. ... The only solution for Bolivia is an immediate electoral process," Mesa said.

"This is coming from a president who is on his way out. ... It is a call to a country on the brink of civil war."

Mesa volunteered late Monday to resign -- his second such offer this year -- after three weeks of indigenous protests blockaded La Paz and triggered the worst turmoil in his 19-month presidency of South America's poorest nation.

Bolivian president Carlos Mesa addresses the nation in La Paz, Bolivia on Tuesday, June 7, 2005. Mesa went on national television late Tuesday to urge lawmakers to move quickly to call early immediate elections for president, vice president and other legislative posts, saying it was the only solution to the crisis.'Let's put an end to this craziness,' said Mesa. 'The only way to avoid further violence is to hold elections right away.' [AP]

Congress, which rejected a Mesa resignation in March, will hold a session on Thursday in the southern city of Sucre to debate whether to accept his latest offer to quit. The session was moved to Sucre because La Paz, about 200 miles away, remained too volatile.

Under the constitution, Congress President Hormando Vaca Diez would replace Mesa if the legislature accepts his offer. But Indian leaders and protesters have said Vaca Diez is not an acceptable candidate and warn protests will continue to press for the key demand for energy sector nationalization.

In a sign of concern over the swelling protests, the United States ordered its non-emergency personnel at its embassy in Bolivia and all U.S. diplomats' relatives to leave the country. The State Department also urged Americans against visiting the country.

A blockade of the capital by Indian protesters, especially in the city of El Alto, has caused gas stations to dry up. Taxi drivers are asking passengers to share rides. Residents complain about rising prices and shortages of bread and meat.

Public transport workers are on strike and some hospitals in the capital said they are only open for emergencies.

The mayor of El Alto said blockades in that city had become so drastic that protesters had stopped families from burying their dead in the cemetery.

Mesa appeared on television with the mayor to urge protesters to allow gas, fuel and supplies to flow to the capital. Protesters in El Alto have dug trenches and built barricades around a gasoline plant supplying the capital.

Church leaders have been trying to negotiate an end to the crisis, but the political situation remains delicate ahead of the congressional ruling.

Evo Morales, a main opposition and indigenous leader, has joined other congressmen in calling for the resignation of Vaca Diez and the leader of the lower chamber of Congress to make way for early elections.

No one in Bolivia, except perhaps the multinational oil companies and some elites, could support Vaca Diez as president, he said.

He said total nationalization of energy resources was a demand protest leaders would not negotiate. But he said protesters could allow some humanitarian relief for emergency supplies without lifting their blockades.

Mesa, a political independent with little support in Congress, had struggled to stay in power since coming to office in 2003 as he faced growing Indian demands for more state control of Latin America's second-largest natural gas reserves and calls for autonomy from wealthy regional provinces.

A former television news anchor, he came to office promising to heal the social divisions in the Andean nation of more than 8 million people. But he failed to cope with growing Indian discontent that helped topple his predecessor in a similar popular revolt over natural gas.

The Organization of American States offered to help and urged Bolivians to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

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