Bolivian protests ease as new leader pledges vote

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Bolivian indigenous groups began lifting roadblock protests today after the country's new president took office pledging to hold elections and negotiate key demands that triggered three weeks of turmoil.

Eduardo Rodriguez, the former Supreme Court chief, was sworn in as interim president on yesterday to replace President Carlos Mesa who earlier resigned in an effort to halt protests he feared could push Bolivia toward civil war.

The indigenous majority in South America's poorest country is clamoring for more political power and gas and oil nationalization - in direct opposition to a European-descended elite. Mesa was the second Bolivian president in two years pushed out by conflict over natural gas reserves.

"One of my capacities will be to call for an electoral process," Rodriguez said after he was sworn in. "I am offering a short mandate with the help of Congress."

Bolivia's crisis has shown the increasing power of Indian groups who could win a new presidential election. That could led to 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 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.

Rodriguez, a lawyer with a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University, is mandated by the constitution to call elections. His interim government has not set a date for the vote, but he has said elections could be held in December.

La Paz slowly returned to normal on Friday after weeks of blockades caused fuel and food shortages. Drivers lined up outside gas stations waiting for fuel supplies. Officials said natural gas began flowing back into the capital for hospitals and factories and the airport reopened as employees went back to work.

Police said most protests had ended, but in El Alto, a sprawling poor area in the mountains above the capital, protesters said they would keep up blockades to press for nationalization. They gave the government 72 hours to respond.

"They will not defeat us. We will triumph because the people of El Alto are ready," said Abel Mamani, of the militant federation of neighborhood groups.

Spain's Repsol YPF said on Friday its gas fields in Bolivia affected by protests were back working again.

SOCIAL DIVIDES

Rodriguez was appointed after Senate President Hormando Vaca Diez and Mario Cossio, leader of the lower house of Congress, both declined to assume the presidency.

Bolivia's constitution allowed Vaca Diez to replace Mesa, but Indian leaders and many other Bolivians rejected him as representative of a failed traditional political class.

"The poor have won a victory in the streets. So the government should quickly take advantage of the honeymoon period, with a cooperative Congress, at least in principal, and most social movements, to reach a political agreement," analyst Jorge Lazarte said.

The new government faces a huge task finding a consensus in the socially divided nation of 9 million people. Aymara, Quechua and Guarani Indians make up 65 per cent of the population.

Rodriguez must tackle indigenous demands for constitutional reform to give them more representation and for state control of Bolivia's energy resources. Indian groups say they have missed out on the economic benefits of Bolivia's natural gas reserves - the region's second-largest.

Rodriguez said he was willing to talk with those pressing for nationalization to discuss rational demands. But he said Congress would have to rule on any reforms.

"We should be able to address the issue of hydrocarbons. The constitution says the hydrocarbons belong to the state. That has not changed; what has changed is the way they are managed," Rodriguez said.

The new president must also deal with calls for autonomy from wealthy eastern Santa Cruz, where many feel the government has pandered to militant demands from Indians from the mountains surrounding La Paz. Santa Cruz will hold a referendum on independence in August.

- REUTERS