Bolivian Leader Promises Elections

Bolivia’s new president promised early elections and worked Saturday to form a transition government as his predecessor fled to the United States, driven from office by a month of violent demonstrations.

President Carlos Mesa -- the former vice president inaugurated late Friday after Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigned -- takes over this struggling Andean nation amid its worst crisis in decades and after rioting that left at least 70 people dead.

On Saturday, he spoke to supporters in El Alto, a suburb of the capital, La Paz, that was at the center of the protests against Sanchez de Lozada.

“Never again should we lose a life through battles with the government,” Mesa told the cheering crowd of about 1,000 people, including old women in traditional bowler hats and young men waving multicolored flags.

Mesa, 50, also held talks at his home Saturday with labor and government officials, and said his administration would be an interim one, although the law calls on him to serve out the rest of the ex-president’s term, until 2007. It was unclear when elections might be held.

The departure of the 73-year-old Sanchez de Lozada brought a degree of peace: Soldiers and police withdrew from streets in La Paz and other cities early Saturday. Merchants reopened for business. Governments around Latin America offered support for Mesa.

“Popular clamor defeated Sanchez de Lozada,” a headline in El Diario newspaper declared. “Democracy is unharmed.”

Still, Mesa inherits a climate of social unrest over the ex-president’s free-market economic policies, seen as widening the divide between rich and poor. Unemployment is at 12%; most Bolivians earn around $2 a day.

Poor Bolivians, led by Indian and labor leaders, spearheaded the street demonstrations that started in September and swelled into marches by thousands. People built roadblocks that caused food shortages and isolated La Paz. Protesters with sticks and rocks clashed for days with soldiers.

The riots erupted over Sanchez de Lozada’s plan to export natural gas to Mexico and California. He had hoped to tap the nation’s large natural gas reserves to boost economic growth.

Many Bolivians were particularly angry that the fuel might be shipped through a port in neighboring Chile instead of through Peru, another option.

Bolivia lost its coastline in a war against Chile in the 19th century, and resentment is fierce to this day.

Officials involved with the $6-billion export project said Saturday that they hoped it would move forward.

But the chairman of the California Power Authority, S. David Freeman, said the developments in Bolivia were a “sharp reminder” of the U.S. need for alternative fuel sources such as wind and solar energy.

“We cannot afford to get dependent on natural gas from unstable governments or we will compound the problems we have with imported oil,” he said. “Conservation and using all the forms of energy just as efficiently as possible have got to be at the centerpiece of our energy policies.”

Meanwhile, amid concerns for his security in Bolivia, the disgraced ex-president sought refuge in the U.S., where he was raised and educated. He touched down first in Florida before flying to Washington, said Bolivian General Consul Moises Jarmusz Levy, in Miami.

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Carlos Mesa

Age: 50

Political affiliation: Independent

Professional background: Mesa has worked as a newspaper editor, columnist, radio reporter and television news anchor. He started the television interview show “Up Close,” one of Bolivia’s most popular programs. A respected historian, he is a member of the Bolivian History Academy and has produced about 50 videos on Bolivia’s history. He entered journalism as a film critic and created the Bolivian Film Institute. For the last 14 months, he served as vice president of Bolivia.

Books: Mesa is the author of a dozen books, including “Presidents of Bolivia: Between Ballot Boxes and Guns,” published in 1983.

Personal: Mesa was educated in Jesuit schools. Both of his parents were historians. He and his wife, Elvira Salinas, have two children.

From Times Wire Services