The Bolivian people have made history. Never have they directly elected their President with more than 50% of the vote; no candidate has even reached 37%. But today, blowing away all polls and projections that placed his support around 35%, Evo Morales Ayma has officially won the Presidential election with over 50% of the popular vote and will head the next government of Bolivia. Scattered accounts of this monumental event are below.

On Monday evening, 28 Italians, two Spaniards and one Colombian arrived at the El Alto/La Paz International Airport. This select group of activists and journalists did not come to relax in Lake Titicaca’s beach-side towns nor to trek through the Andes. Instead, they will visit gravesites of the victims of the 2003 military massacre, talk with landless peoples, and see community-based alternatives to the privatized water system rejected by popular demand five years ago. Members of the Caravan Mayaki ( “only one” in Aymara) are in Bolivia for a one week convergence to learn about—and stand in solidarity with—the lives and luchas (struggles) of this country’s indigenous and politicized people.

Eyes wide, smiling, he kept repeating the same word—“inolvidable” (unforgettable)—as he watched the elaborate opening ceremony of the 16th World Youth Festival of Youth and Students in Caracas, Venezuela last month.  For Abraham Bojorquez from El Alto, Bolivia, this was “something I’m going to tell my grandchildren about.”  Other than living for a couple of years in Brazil when he was younger, he has never left Bolivia. As radical as he is poor, Abraham “never imagined” he would be part of a worldwide festival of revolutionary youth.  

When you arrive at the airport, you are greeted outside of your gate and ushered through immigration and customs as an official “diplomat.”  You are housed in buildings that were constructed just for you, just for this very occasion. You can ride the subway for free. Headquarters is located on the third floor of one  of the city's two main towers (just look for the sign above the door that reads "Ministry of Energy and Mines").  The doors to the city center’s main hotels are open: come on in, pick up materials, get some free food, water, coffee. If you are from virtually any country in South or Central America and were able to find transport here, the entire week (food, housing, etc.) is somewhere between free and $10. And, don’t be afraid. That is the military standing guard over there but they are actually just here to help everything go smoothly and to make sure you can get where you need to go safely.

This is what happens when you combine a Bolivarian government and a worldwide gathering of young revolutionary leftists.  

The images of a returning "normality" in the capital of Bolivia are seductive.  Fleets of oversized pick-up trucks filled with thousands of gas cisterns roll out of the Senkata Gas Plant in El Alto, past police guards who stand chatting next to the burned tires, rocks and barbed wire remnants of blockades that had shut down the facility for the past two weeks.  The trucks zoom down the cleared Autopista highway that connects El Alto to La Paz towards the eager masses. On residential streets, rusted yellow gas cisterns snake along the pavement while neighbors visit, waiting to refill their supply of liquid cooking gas that had run out the week before.  A few blocks away, a gas station owner crosses his arms across his chest, nods and smiles, watching the line of thirsty cars grow as word spreads that he has gotten his shipment of fuel. On the Prado, cars and minibuses chug along past open store fronts and happily shopping tourists, unencumbered by angry protesters or the fog of tear gas. Abel Mamani, President of Fejuve (the El Alto neighborhood organization), shakes hands with the new President, who has vowed to bring about new general elections. Cut to scenes of campesinos clearing away boulders and tree trunks on the roads that connect Bolivia to neighboring Chile and Peru. And, for the mainstream media: fade to black.

Bolivia has a new President. This news comes at the end of a day in which the nation seemed to be heading towards extreme crisis. Under duress from social movements who declared that under no conditions would they accept the Presidency of Senate President Hormando Vaca Diez (first in line after Mesa), Congress had been unable to convene today, dismissed itself at 6pm and declared an cuarto intermedio (break) of indeterminate length. The people of Bolivia were enflamed by their government's continuing inefficacy and it was at approximately 9pm, as movement leaders were coming across the airwaves to talk about the mass mobilizations of tomorrow, that Vaca Diez finally gave in and announced that he would agree to resign. At 10:50pm, Congress convened in Sucre, the city to which the politicians had fled to escape the pressure of La Paz.  Within minutes, Parliament approved Carlos Mesa's resignation and Vaca Diez and the number two in line, Mario Cossio, both renounced their position as the new executive cheif.  At 11:47pm, Eduardo Rodriguez, President of the Supreme Court, was sworn in as the new President of Bolivia.  

Here, "the revolution" is anything but a party.  Dancing hippies, drum circles and four-story high puppets are notably absent from the recent mass mobilizations that have rocked Bolivia for the past two weeks. There are no breaks for concerts, no hemp clothing for sale. You are not an individual, but a part of your contingent, and from them you do not stray. In stark contrast to the large-scale demonstrations in the US that have characterized the burgeoning anti-globalization movement, marches here in Bolivia are supreme examples of discipline and seriousness.  Rigidity replaces fluidity; unity replaces individualism; rash actions are rare.  The marchers have anger and determination in their hearts but reign that in for the sake of the long-term struggle. Their intensity is in their expressions, chants and willpower - not in violent behavior. Sure, some bring their whips, dynamite is abundant, and I saw one man yesterday wielding a cactus. But most of the time these are symbols of strength, rather than weapons for destruction.

Ayer, cientos de miles de bolivianos inundaron La Paz, para exigir que se nacionalicen  los recursos energéticos, dando inicio así a  la tercera semana que cumple esta fase de la guerra del gas en Bolivia. Aunque quizás fue la marcha más grande de la historia reciente de este país, esta se constituyó solamente como la parte más visible de algo mucho mas grande.  

Hundreds of thousands of Bolivians flooded La Paz today to demand the nationalization of the country's energy resources as we begas week three of this phase of Bolivia's Gas War.  Though it could have been the largest single march in this country's recent history, this mass mobilization really was only the icing on the cake.  Because as La Paz streets turned into rivers of people, wiphalas, placards and banners, the strikes and blockades across the nation continued to work their tactical magic: El Alto, paralyzed for days; La Paz, a virtual island, with blockades at all entrances, lacking gasoline and certain food supplies; Cochabamba and Potosi, shut down by protesters; the nation's highway system, over 70 impenetrable road blocks halting shipping and transport. From all angles, it was a day unlike the others.

After a combative day  on the streets of La Paz and more than two weeks of turmoil in Bolivia, President Carlos Mesa has offered his resignation from the Presidency. He appeared tonight at approximately 9:45pm, live from the Presidential Palace, to let his country and the world know that he no can longer lead a nation in such a divided and tumultous state.  He affirmed that he had been a strong leader who had tried everything he could to bring about agreement on the controversial issues, but that at this point, his time had come to an end; he can do no more. He pleaded that Bolivians' find a solution for the current conflict through dialogue, rather than protests. His resignation, however, is dependent on the Congress accepting his decree. As such, he assured the nation that his resignation does not create a power vacuum because he will continue to govern until there is Congressional approval. He reminded us all that he "was born in Bolivia, lives in Bolivia, and will continue to be in Bolivia" for the duration of this crisis.