It's Official: Mesa Submits Resignation

President Mesa has just announced his resignation in a speech transmitted by the Bolivian media. On his way out, he took another opportunity to blame his and the country’s problems on a “few,” “imposing” their will on the rest of the country, then said he didn’t “want to put the blame on anyone else.” His resignation is, again, submitted to Congress and awaits its approval. More details very shortly from our journalists on the ground in La Paz. In other news, to the ranks of that “few” has been added the municipal government of the city of La Paz, including the mayor himself. Mayor Juan del Granado announced earlier this evening a “paro general,” a general shutdown of all the institutions of La Paz, to demand hydrocarbon nationalization. MAS leader Evo Morales has also demanded “nationalization in fact” of the country’s gas and oil industries, using a word that in previous weeks he had avoided in favor of demanding higher taxes on oil companies and a constitutional assembly.