Free Republic

President Mesa has been under heavy pressure to resign Bolivian President Carlos Mesa has announced his resignation after mass protests demanding the nationalisation of energy and constitutional reform. In a televised address late on Monday, Mr Mesa said he was stepping down because "this is as far as I can go". The Bolivian city of La Paz has seen daily demonstrations for several weeks by indigenous and left-wing groups. Mr Mesa became president in October 2003 after similar protests over energy forced out his predecessor. The protests erupted last month after a law was passed imposing taxes on the foreign...

Bolivian President Carlos Mesa gives up his station La Paz - the President of Bolivia, Carlos Mesa, gave up his station because of the social agitation centered on the nationalization of the gas which shakes the country since mid-May, announced the interested party Monday evening in a radio-televised message. "It goes from there from my responsibility for saying that I also arrived far I could it", said the Head of the Bolivian State. "For this reason, I decided to present my resignation of the my post of President of the Republic", it added. Mr. Mesa had occupied this station...

...Russian news services are reporting that both U.S. and Colombian military sources have confirmed that Venezuela's defense ministry has purchased several advanced MiG-29 fighters and that that U.S. sources have detected them on training missions. ..."Venezuela plans to spend approximately $5 billion on acquisition of Russian fighters including purchase of armament, airdrome and airborne equipment." ...UPI: "letters addressed last year to the director general of Russian Aeronautic Corp., Nicolai F. Nikitin, the Venezuelan air force requested the 'latest version' of the MiG-29 SMT equipped with high-tech weaponry, including radar-guided missiles and 2,000-pound bombs." UPI: "The plane must have the capacity...

New Bolivian President Carlos Mesa: a Best-Selling Author and Journalist By Alvaro Zuazo Associated Press Writer Published: Oct 18, 2003 SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (AP) - As one of Bolivia's top journalists, Carlos Mesa wrote a best-selling book about the many presidents in this country's often tumultuous history. Now his story will have to inside any new printing of "Entre urnas y fusiles" (Between the Ballot Box and the Rifle). Mesa was sworn in as president late Friday after the resignation of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. Mesa, a political independent who had some leftist leanings in his youth, has served...

La Paz, Bolivia - Carlos Mesa, a moderate political unknown, took over Bolivia's presidency on Saturday after a month-long bloody revolt by the country's Indian majority forced the resignation of his predecessor. Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, a free marketeer and key US ally in the anti-drug war, quit after an estimated 74 people died in a month of protests that saw the siege of the capital by inhabitants of its poor outskirts. Tens of thousands of farmers, workers and miners marched in and around the world's highest capital for weeks to reject Sanchez de Lozada's US-backed, pro-market policies. Grievances ranged...