Bolivian President Says He’ll Resign

Besieged Bolivian President Carlos Mesa said late Sunday that he would submit his resignation to Congress today following weeks of protests that have spread to nearly every corner of his impoverished Andean country.

The announcement came in a televised speech as predominantly Aymara Indian protesters in the city of El Alto blocked roads to La Paz, the capital, while other demonstrators in central Bolivia threatened to shut down oil fields.

“I will submit my resignation to the president of Congress, so Congress can make a decision,” Mesa said. He blamed leftist leaders, especially Evo Morales of the Movement to Socialism, for creating a climate of uncertainty that “makes it impossible to continue governing.”

It remained unclear late Sunday whether Congress, which could vote to keep Mesa in office, would accept Mesa’s resignation. His speech may have been a last-ditch effort to force his opponents to back down.

Morales, a former peasant union leader, has called for blockades throughout the country to force Mesa to increase taxes on foreign oil companies and to immediately call a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution.

In his 45-minute speech, Mesa repeatedly mentioned Morales, saying he and other opponents had transformed Bolivia “into a country of ultimatums.”

“They roll up some sticks of dynamite and insist that you do anything they say,” Mesa said. “I won’t go down that road any longer, because Bolivia can’t be governed that way.”

Morales was quick to respond. “This is no resignation,” he said, accusing Mesa of trying to “blackmail the people.”

After the speech, hundreds of people gathered in central La Paz to show support for Mesa and urge him not to step down.

A historian and onetime television commentator, Mesa was elected vice president in 2002. He became president in October 2003 after a wave of protests forced President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada into exile in the United States.

Mesa has struggled to govern a country whose Indian majority, frustrated with its traditionally subservient status, increasingly supports activists who blame Bolivia’s woes on a capitalist system dominated by people of European descent.

Morales, who finished a close second in the 2002 presidential election, echoed those views Sunday. “It’s a racial hatred Carlos Mesa has for us,” he said. “He is of Spanish blood and [feels] he has all the right to defend internal colonialism.”

Leaders in El Alto, an Indian-majority city on the outskirts of La Paz, have demanded that the government nationalize a local French-owned water utility, and announced they would march on the capital Tuesday.

Mesa also has faced dissent from civic leaders in the country’s business capital, Santa Cruz, who have demanded greater regional autonomy.

If Mesa’s resignation is accepted, the head of the Senate, Hormando Vaca Diez, would become president. Vaca Diez has been one of a growing number of conservative leaders who have called on the president to be tougher with the protesters.