Thread: Bolivian Chaos

From the pages of the New York Slimes, more chaos in Latin America, coming soon to a country near you! Do any of these people in Middle and South America have the slightest clue as to how to run a country? - Scarecrow


Bolivian President Offers to Resign, Citing Mass Demonstrations


By JUAN FORERO
Published: June 7, 2005

BOGOTÃ?, Colombia, June 6 - With Bolivia paralyzed by protests, President Carlos Mesa announced his resignation on Monday night in a nationally televised address. Explaining that road blockades and marches had made Bolivia ungovernable, he said, "My responsibility is to say this is as far as I can go."
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Bolivian President Carlos Mesa is greeted by supporters in La Paz after resigning his post on Monday.

"For that reason, it is my decision to present my resignation as president of the republic," he said in the speech, which was carried live by CNN en Español.

The offer to resign was the embattled president's second in three months. In March, the former journalist and historian offered to quit in a calculated gamble aimed at rallying support in the face of road-choking protests. The tactic worked, and Congress rejected the offer, giving Mr. Mesa a new start.

This time, he also seemed to leave it up to Congress, saying, "I will continue to be president until the Congress makes a decision and defines the future of the country."

If Congress accepts the resignation, the next in line to take over would be the president of the Senate, Hormando Vaca DÃÂ*ez. Mr. DÃÂ*ez, however, would not be a palatable choice for most Bolivians, political analysts say, nor would the third in line to the presidency, Mario CossÃÂ*o, the president of the lower house of Congress.

The next choice, the Supreme Court president, Eduardo RodrÃÂ*guez, 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.

Mr. Mesa's decision came after more than three weeks of escalating protests by powerful indigenous and anti-globalization groups demanding that the government nationalize the private energy firms that flocked to Bolivia to mine Latin America's second-largest natural gas reserves.

Though Congress on May 17 sharply raised taxes on foreign multinationals, among them Petrobras of Brazil, Repsol YPF of Spain and British Gas, the population was not placated. Protests in recent days have blocked most highways, isolating cities and making gasoline and staples like milk and eggs scarce.

Mr. Mesa became president in October 2003 after protesters forced President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada to resign. He convened a referendum last year in which Bolivians asked for more state control of the country's natural gas.

But Mr. Mesa was rocked by more than 800 protests, as indigenous groups in the western highlands demanded more say in the country's economic future and pro-business groups in the country's affluent east sought more autonomy.

On Monday night, he called their tactics "violent and excessive," saying they took advantage of his government.

From the pages of the New York Slimes, more chaos in Latin America, coming soon to a country near you! Do any of these people in Middle and South America have the slightest clue as to how to run a country? - Scarecrow

1. NO, never have and NEVER WILL!!

2. I'm sick and tired of every 2-bit dictatorship calling their respective countries REPUBLICs!! Has anyone ever noticed this? Whenever some pissant group {Castro comes to mind first, lol} want legitimacy, they call it a REPUBLIC! I'll lay money on the fact that they, not one to a man, could give a definition of the word........REPUBLIC! Sounds like the USofA so it must mean something "good." Gee wiz, and a constitution? They rip em up and re-write faster than we change our underwear.

3. Not one country in EUROPE knows how to run a country! Asking that of Africa, the "americas," {note the small "a"} the Middle East or any other darned part of the world is asking for the impossible.

2ndamendsis, that is why governments in the region are a staple joke for movies, TV and books. They make parodies of them and have since the days of Charlie Chaplin.

Few in the public square have the guts to state the obvious, there is a culture of "manyana" (sp) and let somebody else do it and the strongman rules in countries below the border. That culture, which is such a miserable failure, is what is being imported here with every wave of illegals. But to say that makes you a reacist?

I say to state the truth makes you honest. Then what does that make the purveyors of the politically correct horse manure that all cultures are created equal? Three Dog Night, one of my favorite groups from my mispent semi-hippie years had a song that nails it '"LIAR"

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

From the pages of the New York Slimes, more chaos in Latin America, coming soon to a country near you! Do any of these people in Middle and South America have the slightest clue as to how to run a country? - Scarecrow

1. NO, never have and NEVER WILL!!

2. I'm sick and tired of every 2-bit dictatorship calling their respective countries REPUBLICs!! Has anyone ever noticed this? Whenever some pissant group {Castro comes to mind first, lol} want legitimacy, they call it a REPUBLIC! I'll lay money on the fact that they, not one to a man, could give a definition of the word........REPUBLIC! Sounds like the USofA so it must mean something "good." Gee wiz, and a constitution? They rip em up and re-write faster than we change our underwear.

3. Not one country in EUROPE knows how to run a country! Asking that of Africa, the "americas," {note the small "a"} the Middle East or any other darned part of the world is asking for the impossible.

Right on, and it has nothing to do with racism. Its the lack of education and the corruption.

The sad fact of the matter is that for too long Washington has sucked up to a rich upper class that does not care about the people. Our own State department people live in embassys surrounded by fences out of fear. These upper class send their kids to US Universities I could never attend.
Yale, Harvard, etc....

Bolivia is poor as are most latin nations. It only takes one firebrand liberal like Chavez or this Morales in Bolivia to stir things up. The education system sucks in most of these nations as well. So the poor run where as do the rich? UNITED STATES! Which country will be next down there?

I heard something today about the bolivian leader wanting to resign. It seems like the only one that is not in chaos down there is Chile. I would hate to see Chile follow in the footsteps of the bolivians, ecuadorians, and colombians. Bolivia still can't get over not having a port to the sea. They were offered commercial access to chilean waters - dont know what happened with that. I do know the bolivians have broken chilean-bolivian treaties like 4 times since the 1890's. It does not seem like the leaders last very long in bolivia and/or ecuador. I dont know about colombia.