Bolivia Has a New President
Bolivia has a new president this morning. Carlos Mesa, the former VP, was inaugurated yesterday after Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigned. (The BBC has posted English translations of Goni’s resignation letter and Mesa’s acceptance speech.)
My brother Mechum reports from Santa Cruz that he’s headed back to La Paz (in style) this afternoon:
Well how about a rapid change of events…last night people were talking 10 days to 2 weeks before things settle down in La Paz, then Goni (the president) resigns and I´m on a US C-130 transport plane back home at one this afternoon! Never been on that type of plane before, so I´m looking forward to it.
Well, looks like the stay in Santa Cruz will be more abbreviated than I thought, but we still got to go out ith some teachers from the school here yesterday. It as a nice time; we went to a lagoon out in the jungle nd played bocci. It truly is the game of the gods.
Well, more from La Paz…I´m going to see if they´ll et me parachute in…
Mesa, a 50-year-old former journalist and respected historian, takes the reigns of a nation in peril.
AP says: “Bolivia’s new president rushed to form a transition government in talks Saturday with political and labor leaders as his predecessor fled to the United States, forced from power by weeks of deadly riots.”
The New York Times weighs in: “One of the books that Carlos Mesa wrote when he was a historian is titled “Bolivian Presidents: Between the Voting Booth and the Gun.” Mr. Mesa is about to experience that situation himself.”
The AP tells us the US military has dispatched a small team to “assess security at the US Embassy.”
And things are returning to normal in La Paz, Reuters reports: ” For the first time in a week, buses ran, airplanes took off and people shopped for groceries on Saturday as Carlos Mesa took over Bolivia’s presidency following a deadly revolt that forced out his predecessor.”
Turning to the blogosphere, Al Giordano has the details on Goni’s exit from Bolivia (he flew to Miami). And Miguel Centellas has some questions about returning to La Paz.
Looking ahead, the major questions are these: will Mesa be seen by the Indigenous opposition as being linked to Goni–a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Will the protesters be satisfied that he truly represents a break from his predecessor’s policies? We shall see…