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Bolivia's new president vows early electionsMesa says referendum will be held on disputed gas plan
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- Bolivia's new president promised early elections and worked to form a transition government as his predecessor fled to the United States, driven from office by a month of violent demonstrations. President Carlos Mesa -- the former vice president sworn in by Congress late Friday after Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigned -- took over this struggling Andean nation Saturday amid its worst crisis in decades and after rioting that left 65 people dead. "We have to respond to one of the biggest challenges in our history. If you all can't help me there is no way we can crawl out of this," the new president said late Friday. Mesa, 50, held talks at his home Saturday with labor and government officials, and said his administration would be an interim one, even though the law calls him to serve out the rest of the ex-president's term, due to end in August 2007. The departure of the 73-year-old Sanchez de Lozada brought a degree of peace: Soldiers and police withdrew from streets in the capital, La Paz, and other cities early Saturday. Merchants and vendors reopened for business. Governments around Latin America offered support for Mesa. "Popular clamor defeated Sanchez de Lozada," a headline in the El Diario newspaper declared. "Democracy is unharmed." Still, Mesa inherits a climate of social unrest over the ex-president's free-market economic policies, seen as widening the divide between rich and poor. Unemployment is at 12 percent and most Bolivians earn the equivalent of $2 a day. Poor Bolivians -- Indians and labor leaders -- spearheaded the street demonstrations that started in mid-September and swelled into marches by thousands. People blocked roads, causing food shortages and isolating La Paz. Protesters with sticks and rocks clashed for days with soldiers sent to drive them away. The riots erupted over Sanchez de Lozada's plan to export natural gas to Mexico and the United States. The ex-president had hoped to tap the country's expansive natural gas reserves to boost economic growth and lift the country -- one of South America's poorest -- out of years of economic stagnation. Many Bolivians were particularly angry that the fuel might be shipped through a port in neighboring Chile instead of through Peru, another option. Bolivia lost its coastline in 1879 during a war against Chile, and resentment remains fierce. Officials involved with the $6 billion export project, led by Repsol YPF of Spain and British Gas Petroleum, said Saturday they hoped it would move forward. "The upshot of the project will depend on when the dust settles," said Chris Carter, a spokesman for BG Group in London. "We're still there doing what we can." Bolivian officials estimate the gas exports would generate about $1.5 billion. The country's total current global exports total $1.2 billion. In his first news conference as president, Mesa said he would carry out a referendum promised by his predecessor on the gas issue. The people "have to decide if we want to sell the gas that we have and from where it should be exported," he said, promising an "exhaustive" campaign aimed at informing Bolivians of the project. Former president in United StatesMeanwhile, Sanchez de Lozada sought refuge in the United States, where he was raised and educated, amid concerns for his security in Bolivia. He touched down first in Florida before flying to Washington, said Bolivian Consul General Moises Jarmusz Levy in Miami. Abandoning the presidential residence in a military helicopter, Sanchez de Lozada became the fourth Latin American president driven from office by widespread protests in recent years. Ecuador's Jamil Mahuad, Peru's Alberto Fujimori and Argentina's Fernando de la Rua were all unseated by outpourings of public anger over U.S.-backed free-market economic policies. Bolivia's future has regional implications, and Brazil and Argentina both sent high-level envoys Friday night after the president resigned, according to Brazilian government official Gilberto Carvalho. Brazil, South America's biggest economy, relies on Bolivia as an export route to Asia for manufactured goods, as well as for the bulk of its natural gas. Bolivia also is an associate member of Mercosur, the trade bloc made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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