Carlos Mesa - Presidency

Presidency

In the short year and a half after assuming office, Mesa found himself also under extreme internal and external political pressures over the use of Bolivia's 1.5 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, estimated to be worth billions of dollars (USD). His alliance with Evo Morales gave him no results, even after accepting a Chavista type Constituyente.

After a resurgence of Gas protests in 2005, in a political move he attempted to resign in January 2005, but his offer was refused by Congress. On March 22, 2005, after weeks of new street protests from organizations accusing Mesa of bowing to U.S. corporate interests, Mesa again offered his resignation to Congress, and it was accepted on June 10 under the pressure of road blockades and general social unrest. The chief justice of the Supreme Court, Eduardo Rodríguez, was sworn as interim president to succeed the outgoing Carlos Mesa.

Carlos Mesa had been Vice-President to President Sanchez de Lozada since August 6, 2002. In that capacity, he was also the head of the Bolivian Congress.

As noted, Mesa was, prior to entering the political arena, a historian and journalist in radio, television and newspapers. He is a member of the Bolivian History Academy, and co-wrote (along with his parents, themselves noted scholars and professionals) an interesting and relatively exhaustive compendium of Bolivian history from the coming of the Spaniards to the close of the millennium.

Despite his lack of experience in the political arena, Mesa's star rose quickly in the Sánchez de Lozada administration. In September 2003, he addressed 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.

As the gas conflict escalated, Mesa became silently but increasingly discontent with the government's heavy-handed repression of the protests, which would leave over 50 people dead. He did not resign, but he did withdraw his support for Sánchez de Lozada five days before the latter's resignation, saying: "I cannot continue to support the situation we are living through." Some speculated that Mesa had personal reasons to adopt this posture, as it opened the way to his succeeding Sánchez de Lozada as president. However, it also placed him at the center of extreme political pressures – from both internal Bolivian and external foreign interests – regarding the use of Bolivia's natural gas reserves. 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.

A weak Mesa eventually changed his mind and decided to try and finish his constitutional term. Results; the referendum posed what were widely perceived to be vague and overly complicated questions. (See: Bolivian gas referendum, 2004.) In addition, in March 2004 he announced that his government would hold a series of rallies around the country, and at its embassies abroad, demanding that Chile return to Bolivia a stretch of seacoast that the country lost in 1884 after the end of the War of the Pacific. Chile has traditionally refused to negotiate on the issue, but Mesa nonetheless made this policy a central point of his administration in order to gain popular support.

Following protests, he tendered his resignation to Congress on March 22, 2005; however, the legislators voted almost unanimously the next day to reject his offer. Still, domestic tensions between the poor and rural eastern highlands and the wealthier cities and oil-rich south continued to rise. Weeks of escalating street demonstrations and widening disorder reached a peak in June 2005, as tens of thousands of protesters marched into La Paz. Aware of his growing leadership incapacity to control or influence events without resorting to violence, Mesa once more tendered his resignation to Congress. This time, Congress accepted his offer. The presidents of the two national legislative chambers at that point abdicated their constitutional powers in favor of the chief justice of the Supreme Court and new president of Bolivia, Eduardo Rodríguez. He was charged with the duty of swiftly organizing national elections, which led to the massive victory of MAS candidate Evo Morales in December 2005.

After the accession of Evo Morales, rumors began to abound about serious efforts being made to bring Carlos Mesa to trial for a number of alleged misdeeds, including responsibility for the deaths of protesters, both under his administration and that of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (with whom he served as Vice-President); for economic mismanagement and corruption; and even for having mulled a "self-coup" in order to temporarily suspend constitutional rights and bring order to the country with the help of the military.