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Bolivian congress names new president { June 10 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/international/americas/10bolivia.ready.html?hphttp://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/international/americas/10bolivia.ready.html?hp
June 10, 2005
Bolivian Congress Names New President
By JUAN FORERO
LA PAZ, Bolivia, June 9 - Bolivia's Congress accepted the resignation of President Carlos Mesa late on Thursday night and swore in the head of the Supreme Court as the new president, an appointment expected to defuse more than three weeks of protests that have paralyzed the nation.
Eduardo Rodríguez, who as president of the Supreme Court was third in the line of succession, succeeded Mr. Mesa after the two congressional leaders who were first and second in line dropped out. The two politicians, Hormando Vaca Díez, the Senate president, and Mario Cossío, the House of Delegates president, were seen by protesters as emblematic of Bolivia's failed ruling class.
Mr. Rodríguez, a respected jurist without party affiliations, is seen as an independent who will serve only as a caretaker with one mission: to convene early elections. Those elections, which could take three months to plan, could lead to the election of the first government of indigenous people in Latin America in centuries.
In a short speech given in Sucre, the judicial capital of Bolivia, 450 miles southeast of La Paz, Mr. Rodríguez asked his countrymen to work together to resolve the crisis that has shaken the country.
"I will ask and will insist to Bolivians who are in difficult situations, who are protesting, who are asking, insisting for changes, that we should work together to achieve it," he said.
Among the leading candidates to run for president, once elections are called, is Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian who is the influential leader of the Movement Toward Socialism party. Mr. Morales has gained prominence leading Bolivia's coca growers, earning him the unending enmity of the United States, which has financed coca eradication efforts here.
Mr. Mesa's presidency, which ended less than 20 months after he took office, ended after 11 p.m. Thursday when he walked out of the presidential palace. He spoke to reporters briefly before speeding off.
"I have made mistakes, and I have made errors," Mr. Mesa said. "But my conscience is calm. I served Bolivia as best I could."
His predecessor, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, resigned in October 2003 after troops killed 60 protesters in a violent uprising against his rule.
The late-night agreement that led to Mr. Rodríguez's swearing-in came after a tumultuous day that began when Mr. Vaca Díez convened a special session in Sucre because La Paz, the commercial capital, was paralyzed by protests.
But party leaders haggled for hours, while Indians and miners descended on Sucre. After one protester, a 52-year-old miner, was fatally shot by police, becoming the first demonstrator killed in weeks of protests, the session was suspended.
Under pressure, Mr. Vaca Díez later announced that he would not seek the presidency. Mr. Cossío also stepped aside.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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