BOLIVIA: Bolivia's interim president called for calm and vowed to hold elections as he took office yesterday, after unrest that has stoked fears of violence and paralysed much of the country.
Eduardo Rodriguez, the former Supreme Court chief, was sworn in as interim president late on Thursday after the leaders of both houses of Congress stepped aside.
Three weeks of protests and blockades by members of the indigenous majority clamouring for more political power and gas and oil nationalisation had forced his predecessor, Carlos Mesa, to resign.
Troops killed a miner in protests on Thursday as legislators suspended a session on Mr Mesa's resignation.
"One of my capacities will be to call for an electoral process," Mr Rodriguez said in a midnight speech after he was sworn in during an emergency congressional session.
"I am offering a short mandate with the help of Congress," he said. "I ask all Bolivians who are calling for change that we can build that together in peace."
The crisis has shown the increasing power of indigenous groups, who could now win the new presidential elections. That would herald another shift to the left in Latin America, where many nations are rebelling against US diplomatic and economic influence.
The rise of indigenous protests could also deal a death blow to Washington-backed efforts to eradicate coca, the raw material used to make cocaine. Bolivia is one of the world's biggest producers of a drug that is a livelihood for many peasants.
Because he was third in line to succeed Mr Mesa, Mr Rodriguez, who has a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University, is mandated by the constitution to call elections. His caretaker government has not yet set a date for the vote.
La Paz was struggling with fuel and food shortages after weeks of blockades. In El Alto, a sprawling poor area in the mountains above the capital, some residents demanded protesters take down roadblocks that put a stranglehold on the capital. But protest leaders gave no signal they would immediately do so.
Petrol was scarce in the area, food prices were rising and poor residents were desperate for cooking gas.
Bolivia's constitution allowed senate president Hormando Vaca Diez to replace Mr Mesa, but Indian leaders and many other Bolivians, who favour a quick election, rejected him as representative of a failed traditional political class.
The government must still tackle demands for total state control over Bolivia's huge gas reserves, the region's largest. Indigenous groups say the reserves have benefited only the white, European-descended elite.
Mr Rodriguez said he was willing to enter into talks with those pressing for nationalisation to discuss rational demands. But he said Congress would have to rule on any reforms.