Post by Bozur on Jul 4, 2005 0:31:48 GMT -5
No. 1 Quits in Bolivia, and Protesters Scorn Nos. 2 and 3
By JUAN FORERO
New York Times
LA PAZ, Bolivia, June 8 - A worsening five-year political crisis in Bolivia reached a precarious impasse on Wednesday, with left- and right-wing adversaries so polarized that the departing president, Carlos Mesa, warned his country to step back from the brink of civil war.
With Mr. Mesa's government collapsing and surging indigenous protesters demanding early elections and more say in economic policy, Bolivia, a country of nine million people, stands at a perilous moment. Five years of instability have already forced two presidents to quit.
In Santa Cruz, the eastern lowland province where much of the country's energy sector is located, peasants pressing for expropriation of private oil companies occupied installations belonging to Repsol YPF of Spain and British Gas, forcing the companies to shut down production.
Here in the western Andes, Indians marched by the thousands and blocked key roads, keeping La Paz short of fuel and food and prompting two international airlines, American and LanChile, to cancel flights.
Two days after Mr. Mesa offered to leave office to defuse mounting protests, demonstrators vowed to topple the new government if it is led by the next in line to the presidency, the Senate president, Hormando Vaca Díez. Congress is preparing to accept Mr. Mesa's resignation on Thursday and anoint Mr. Vaca Díez as successor in a special session in Sucre, the judicial capital.
Leaders of Bolivia's powerful indigenous movement vehemently oppose Mr. Vaca Díez, a wealthy land owner and long-time politician who has the support of the influential business elites in Santa Cruz, his home province. The conservative business class there wants more autonomy, giving it control over the natural gas reserves that the Indians in the highlands want to nationalize.
Mr. Mesa, who remains president, warned the nation that Mr. Vaca Díez must stand down and permit early elections to prevent bloodshed.
"Let us avoid lost lives, let us avoid a violence that devours us all," Mr. Mesa, who has been in office less than 20 months, said in a televised address late Tuesday. "This is an exhortation for a country that is on the verge of civil war."
Since 2000, when a popular uprising forced an American water utility out of Cochabamba, a restive Indian majority has flexed its political muscle, protesting against foreign multinationals and market reforms prescribed by the United States and the International Monetary Fund. Before Mr. Mesa, President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada was also forced out; he fled into exile in October 2003.
Many Bolivians, especially the indigenous people, say market reforms put into practice by politicians like Mr. Sánchez de Lozada have left their country poorer than ever.
That impatience has been evident across Latin America, where eight presidents have been ousted or forced to resign in popular uprisings since 2000. Left-leaning candidates have been swept into power in two-thirds of South America's countries.
"The bottom line is that Latin America is in open rebellion of the economic policies of the Washington consensus," said Jim Shultz, executive director of Democracy Center, a policy analysis group in Cochabamba. "Sometimes it happens in the ballot box. Sometimes it happens on the street, like in Bolivia. It is, in essence, the same rebellion."
But in Bolivia, the movement against market reforms and the traditional ruling class has prompted a backlash from the right. "The rejection by the right is called Hormando Vaca Díez," said Gonzalo Chávez, a political analyst at Catholic University in La Paz.
Protest leaders have vowed to stop Mr. Vaca Díez and the man who is next after him in line to the presidency, Mario Cossío Cortez, president of the lower house of Congress. Mr. Mesa and many others say the solution is for the two to step aside and permit the third in line, the Supreme Court president, Eduardo Rodríguez, to call elections.
But Mr. Vaca Díez signaled to reporters that the military could be used to restore order. He also warned that the protests could lead to a crackdown from the right.
"The radicalism of the left leads to totalitarian governments," he said.
Mr. Vaca Díez has not explicitly said whether he will remain president once Mr. Mesa's resignation is accepted. But two powerful institutional parties that would benefit from the spoils if he takes power, the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement and his own Movement of the Revolutionary Left, support him.
Many Bolivians are infuriated by the possibility. "If Vaca Díez is president, the remedy will be worse than the illness," said Mario Acarapi, 37, an office worker who took part in Wednesday's marches in La Paz. "He is a man who will not listen to the people. He will listen to the old political class."
In a poll published Wednesday in La Prensa, 55 percent of respondents said they would support Mr. Rodríguez, while only 16 percent said they would support Mr. Vaca Díez.
"The country cannot play with the possibility of breaking into a thousand pieces," President Mesa said in his address. Speaking directly to Mr. Vaca Díez, Mr. Mesa called on him to "resign his privilege to the constitutional succession."
"It is in your hands to show the country a generosity that will make history," Mr. Mesa said, "that will make you closer to the people than to continue insisting on the impossible."
FOREIGN DESK | June 9, 2005, Thursday
No. 1 Quits in Bolivia, and Protesters Scorn Nos. 2 and 3
By JUAN FORERO (NYT) 967 words
By JUAN FORERO
New York Times
LA PAZ, Bolivia, June 8 - A worsening five-year political crisis in Bolivia reached a precarious impasse on Wednesday, with left- and right-wing adversaries so polarized that the departing president, Carlos Mesa, warned his country to step back from the brink of civil war.
With Mr. Mesa's government collapsing and surging indigenous protesters demanding early elections and more say in economic policy, Bolivia, a country of nine million people, stands at a perilous moment. Five years of instability have already forced two presidents to quit.
In Santa Cruz, the eastern lowland province where much of the country's energy sector is located, peasants pressing for expropriation of private oil companies occupied installations belonging to Repsol YPF of Spain and British Gas, forcing the companies to shut down production.
Here in the western Andes, Indians marched by the thousands and blocked key roads, keeping La Paz short of fuel and food and prompting two international airlines, American and LanChile, to cancel flights.
Two days after Mr. Mesa offered to leave office to defuse mounting protests, demonstrators vowed to topple the new government if it is led by the next in line to the presidency, the Senate president, Hormando Vaca Díez. Congress is preparing to accept Mr. Mesa's resignation on Thursday and anoint Mr. Vaca Díez as successor in a special session in Sucre, the judicial capital.
Leaders of Bolivia's powerful indigenous movement vehemently oppose Mr. Vaca Díez, a wealthy land owner and long-time politician who has the support of the influential business elites in Santa Cruz, his home province. The conservative business class there wants more autonomy, giving it control over the natural gas reserves that the Indians in the highlands want to nationalize.
Mr. Mesa, who remains president, warned the nation that Mr. Vaca Díez must stand down and permit early elections to prevent bloodshed.
"Let us avoid lost lives, let us avoid a violence that devours us all," Mr. Mesa, who has been in office less than 20 months, said in a televised address late Tuesday. "This is an exhortation for a country that is on the verge of civil war."
Since 2000, when a popular uprising forced an American water utility out of Cochabamba, a restive Indian majority has flexed its political muscle, protesting against foreign multinationals and market reforms prescribed by the United States and the International Monetary Fund. Before Mr. Mesa, President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada was also forced out; he fled into exile in October 2003.
Many Bolivians, especially the indigenous people, say market reforms put into practice by politicians like Mr. Sánchez de Lozada have left their country poorer than ever.
That impatience has been evident across Latin America, where eight presidents have been ousted or forced to resign in popular uprisings since 2000. Left-leaning candidates have been swept into power in two-thirds of South America's countries.
"The bottom line is that Latin America is in open rebellion of the economic policies of the Washington consensus," said Jim Shultz, executive director of Democracy Center, a policy analysis group in Cochabamba. "Sometimes it happens in the ballot box. Sometimes it happens on the street, like in Bolivia. It is, in essence, the same rebellion."
But in Bolivia, the movement against market reforms and the traditional ruling class has prompted a backlash from the right. "The rejection by the right is called Hormando Vaca Díez," said Gonzalo Chávez, a political analyst at Catholic University in La Paz.
Protest leaders have vowed to stop Mr. Vaca Díez and the man who is next after him in line to the presidency, Mario Cossío Cortez, president of the lower house of Congress. Mr. Mesa and many others say the solution is for the two to step aside and permit the third in line, the Supreme Court president, Eduardo Rodríguez, to call elections.
But Mr. Vaca Díez signaled to reporters that the military could be used to restore order. He also warned that the protests could lead to a crackdown from the right.
"The radicalism of the left leads to totalitarian governments," he said.
Mr. Vaca Díez has not explicitly said whether he will remain president once Mr. Mesa's resignation is accepted. But two powerful institutional parties that would benefit from the spoils if he takes power, the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement and his own Movement of the Revolutionary Left, support him.
Many Bolivians are infuriated by the possibility. "If Vaca Díez is president, the remedy will be worse than the illness," said Mario Acarapi, 37, an office worker who took part in Wednesday's marches in La Paz. "He is a man who will not listen to the people. He will listen to the old political class."
In a poll published Wednesday in La Prensa, 55 percent of respondents said they would support Mr. Rodríguez, while only 16 percent said they would support Mr. Vaca Díez.
"The country cannot play with the possibility of breaking into a thousand pieces," President Mesa said in his address. Speaking directly to Mr. Vaca Díez, Mr. Mesa called on him to "resign his privilege to the constitutional succession."
"It is in your hands to show the country a generosity that will make history," Mr. Mesa said, "that will make you closer to the people than to continue insisting on the impossible."
FOREIGN DESK | June 9, 2005, Thursday
No. 1 Quits in Bolivia, and Protesters Scorn Nos. 2 and 3
By JUAN FORERO (NYT) 967 words