BOLIVIA: Two days after his second attempt to resign as Bolivia's president, Carlos Mesa remained in office yesterday as opposing camps failed to agree on where they should meet to choose his replacement. In a late-night TV appeal on Tuesday, he urged the calling of immediate elections.
"The country cannot continue playing with the possibility of splitting into a thousand pieces," Mr Mesa said. "The only solution for Bolivia is an immediate electoral process."
On Tuesday street battles raged in the capital and commerce ground to a halt. Hormando Vaca Diez, the president of the senate, said the siege of La Paz by mostly Indian and poor farmers would make it difficult for congress to meet in La Paz.
Demonstrators cut off the city's road links, demanding nationalisation of Bolivia's oil and gas reserves and the convening of a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution to grant more power to the Indian majority.
Mr Vaca Diez, who is next in line to succeed the president, said congressional leaders might convene in Sucre, Bolivia's ceremonial seat of government, 640km (400 miles) southeast of La Paz.
Mr Mesa tendered his resignation in a speech late on Monday, conceding he was no longer able to govern in the face of the protest movements. He also submitted his resignation in March, but stayed in office then when congress rejected it.
Now, however, it remains clear his political support has evaporated.
According to news reports here, Mr Vaca Diez is trying to build support among the legislators for a plan that would have him assume the presidency for 90 days until new presidential elections can be held.
Mr Vaca Diez represents Santa Cruz, the relatively affluent eastern province where regional leaders have said they will hold a referendum to decide whether it should enjoy greater autonomy.
The eastern leaders want Bolivia's highly centralised government to be reconstituted with weaker federal powers. They also are seeking more local control over the petroleum reserves in their districts.
Indian and trade union leaders said on Tuesday they would fiercely oppose a Vaca Diez presidency, saying he represents the nation's "eastern oligarchy". If Vaca Diez becomes president "it would be a declaration of war on western Bolivia," said Cesar Rojas Rios, a political scientist.
The leaders of the social movement based in the La Paz suburb of El Alto and the western Altiplano want dramatic changes in Bolivia's political institutions and the distribution of its wealth.
Roberto De la Cruz, an Aymara leader in El Alto, said that if Mr Vaca Diez assumes the presidency, tens of thousands of protesters in La Paz might cease to recognise the central government and form their own government.