Carlos Diego Mesa Gisbert (born August 12, 1953) is the current President of Bolivia, holding the office since October 17, 2003. As vice president under the previous president, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, Mesa assumed the post when extensive protests and strikes shut down Bolivia in a bitter dispute known as the Bolivian Gas War, forcing Sánchez de Lozada to resign and flee the country.
Mesa had been vice president since August 6, 2002. As vice president, he was also the head of the Bolivian Congress.
Before entering politics, Mesa was a historian and a journalist in radio, television and newspapers. He is a member of the Bolivian History Academy .
Despite his lack of experience in the political arena, Mesa's star rose quickly in the Sánchez de Lozada administration. In September 2003, he was invited to address the UN General Assembly, where he warned:
Democracy is in danger in Bolivia as the result of legitimate pressures from the poor. We cannot generate economic growth and well-being for a few and then expect that the large majorities that are excluded will watch silently and patiently. We poor countries demand that our products be admitted into the markets of rich countries in adequate conditions. [1]
As the gas conflict escalated, Mesa became increasingly unhappy with the government's heavy-handed repression of the protests, which left an estimated 50 people dead. He withdrew his support for Sánchez de Lozada several days before the latter's resignation, saying: "I cannot continue to support the situation we are living through." This may also have had personal reasons as it opened the way to Mesa succeeding Sánchez de Lozada as president. Mesa thus adopted a "let things pass" attitude that sent him into the most powerful position in the country.
Bolivia's next presidential elections were scheduled for 2007, but Mesa was quick to point out that his administration was transitional and that he did not intend to complete Sánchez de Lozada's term in office. Eventually, he changed his mind and decided to try to see out his term. He also promised to hold a binding referendum on the gas export plan, which he did with uncertain results; the referendum posed vague and overly complicated questions. (See: Bolivian gas referendum, 2004.)
In March 2004, Mesa announced that the government of Bolivia would hold a series of rallies around the country, and in Bolivian embassies overseas, demanding that Chile return to Bolivia a stretch of seacoast which Bolivia lost in 1884 after the end of the War of the Pacific. Chile has refused to negotiate on the issue, but Mesa has made this policy a central point of his administration.
Following protests, he offered his resignation to Congress on March 7, 2005; however, the members of Congress voted almost unanimously the next day to reject his offer.
Works
- Cine boliviano, del realizador al crítico (co-author, 1979)
- El cine boliviano según Luis Espinal (1982)
- Presidentes de Bolivia: entre urnas y fusiles (1983)
- Manual de historia de Bolivia (co-author, 1983)
- La aventura del cine boliviano 1952-1985 (1985)
- Un debate entre gitanos (1991)
- De Cerca, una década de conversaciones en democracia (1993)
- La epopeya del fútbol boliviano (1994)
- Territorios de libertad (1995)
- La espada en la palabra (2000)
External links
See also
Last updated: 05-19-2005 00:10:49
