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Reporter's Notebook: Jean Friedsky

Mesa Offers Resignation

Posted by Jean Friedsky - June 6, 2005 at 10:33 pm
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. Far from marking an end to this battle, Mesa's resignation will only initiate a new chapter. Should Mesa's resignation be accepted, the right-wing President of the Senate Hormando Vaca Diez will assume power. This would further inflame the already enraged protesters that have been marching and shutting down the nation for the past two weeks.  However Santa Cruz and the Bolivian elite will do what they can to maintain the power that could be coming their way. And, clearly, Mesa's resignation does nothing to change the status of Bolivia's gas reserves, nor does it address the proposals of a Constitutional Assembly or a referendum on Autonomy. All it does is open up more questions.

It comes as no surprise that Mesa made his speech tonight. The volume and intensity of protest and police response today demonstrated that this lucha (struggle) was reaching a breaking point in which something needed to happen. Whether that was a military coup, a resignation from Mesa or the initiation of a military/civil government, we didn't know.  Now, we have the first concrete action taken by the governmetnt. What remains to be seen is what the people do in response... Stay tuned, (as my esteemed colleague Luis Gomez likes to say), kind readers. It's about to get interesting...

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Evo: Mesa's Resignation Not Enough

Submitted June 6, 2005 - 11:00 pm by Al Giordano
ATB news agency ("After The Bell," a Spanish-language business journal) has just reported that Bolivian Congressman Evo Morales says that President Carlos Mesa's resignation (or "offer that Congress accepts his resignation - to report this precisely, that's the same thing Mesa did on March 7th and in the end did not resign) "is not enough.

Here is a translation of the report:

Evo Morales, leader of Bolivia's leading opposition party Movement Toward Socialism (MAS, in its Spanish initials), said today that the resignation of the country's president, Carlos Mesa, announced today, is not enough, and also called for the resignation of the Senate President and Speaker of the House.

Morales told the press that the country's presidency must be taken over by the president of the Supreme Court "to set the dates for new elections."

The Bolivian Constitution says that in case of the resignation of the president the post must be taken by the Senate President or the Speaker of the House. If both decline to take the job, the executive branch falls into the hands of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court...

Impacting...

Forero Asleep in Bogota, Hides Byline

Submitted June 6, 2005 - 11:13 pm by Al Giordano
As Luis Gómez, Jean Friedsky, and the rest of the Narco News team is on the ground in Bolivia (the first to report that the country's president might resign, and to report that he did resign today), New York Timesman Juan Forero - responsible for watching Bolivia - stayed at home in his office in the Colombian capital.

His report of tonight provides a strong hint that he knows he dropped the ball: The byline says only "By The New York Times."

Sorry Juanito. With your inflated budget and the amount of lead time you had to be there to report the big story, you blew it again.

Forero Slips in a Byline!

Submitted June 7, 2005 - 12:39 am by Al Giordano
Heh. My oh my, América has a'changed.

Sometime after I noticed (and posted) that Juan Forero's byline did not appear on the NY Times story linked above, the Times added his byline and some new text by him.

Check it out:

...the next in line to take over would be the president of the Senate, Hormando Vaca Díez. Mr. Díez, however, would not be a palatable choice for most Bolivians, political analysts say, nor would the third in line to the presidency, Mario Cossío, the president of the lower house of Congress.

The next choice, the Supreme Court president, Eduardo Rodríguez, does have political support. Under the constitution, he could then call early elections, a scenario that has the support of Evo Morales, Bolivia's most influential protest leader.

I guess the Narco News bandwidth is broadcasting loud and clear into Bogota tonight... and the new American reality - that of Bolívar's "country called América" - is finally sinking in after five years.

And all this, emanating from Bolivia, happened today parallel to a resounding defeat suffered today by George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida session of the Organization of American States (OAS) where the new law of the land - authentic democracy - was spit back in Georgy and Condi's faces by an América united... and on fire.

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