The President Punts – Congress Acts – Altiplano Furious

Events in Bolivia are changing by the minute.

Bolivian President Carlos Mesa gave his speech to the nation on the gas issue this afternoon, and roughly translated he said, “Well, I have decided not to decide. Let’s let Congress decide.” Mesa basically had three options. He could veto the gas bill approved by the Bolivian Congress, approve it, or do nothing and let Congress act. He chose the latter, probably hoping to buy some additional time to negotiate.

That option was washed away moments ago when the President of the Bolivian Senate used his constitutional powers to sign the Congressionally approved gas bill into law.

Reaction from the Aymara communities in El Alto has been swift and furious – this from the center of the protests that ousted Bolivia’s last President, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, over the gas issue in October 2003. Aymara leaders have called for blockades of the roads leading in and out of the capital and have labeled the President and the Congress as traitors.

This also opens up a serious split among Bolivia’s left. The thousands who have been marching on La Paz from El Alto are not in a compromising mood. They are demanding full renationalization of the oil and gas and as any observer of Bolivia will tell you, when the Aymara community sets its mind to something, people are not to be messed with. MAS and Evo Morales have been focused instead on a package of specific modifications to the new law, including tightening the new 50% tax on the foreign companies and demanding a return of control of the reserves to the government.

So tonight Bolivia is awash with political time bombs. The people of El Alto and the altiplano are in La Paz. Evo and his allies are on a long march on a very cold road headed their way. It is now possible that when they arrive on the outskirts of La Paz in two days they are likely to get a reception more chilly than the freezing nights they endured getting there – turned away as unwelcome compromisers.

That is how it looks on Tuesday evening.