Unrest halts Bolivian Congress

The Bolivian parliament has suspended a session due to discuss the resignation of President Carlos Mesa after a miner was shot dead and protests escalated.
Trade union officials say the miner died in a clash with army troops near Sucre, where the session is being held.

Protesters do not want Mr Mesa to be replaced the Senate speaker, who is seen as a member of the business

But Mr Vaca Diez has now announced he would step aside should Congress accept the president's resignation.

The next in line, the head of the lower house, had already said he would decline to succeed Mr Mesa - meaning that the presidency would pass to the head of the Supreme Court.

The BBC's Elliott Gotkine says the latter would then become president and be obliged to call presidential elections - which would defuse the protests.

Politicians in flight

But Thursday saw the first fatality of the month-long demonstrations.

Coro Mayta, 52, a miner union leader, was shot dead by a soldier at a checkpoint in the village of Yotala, just outside Sucre.

He was on board a bus full of protesters. Two more people were wounded when the troops opened fire, news agency Reuters reported Interior Minister Saul Lara as saying.

The military claim the miners attacked the checkpoint by throwing sticks of dynamite.

It is the first fatality since protests began a month ago.


Clashes took place also inside Sucre after miners managed to enter the city despite a heavy deployment of security forces aimed at sealing it off.

The emergency meeting of congress was suspended "due to lack of guarantees", in the words of conservative senator Ana Maria Flores.

Mr Vaca Diez was reportedly escorted to an unspecified military base while other congressmen fled.

"Many of them have left their hotels, but I cannot say where they were heading," congressman Guido Anez said.

Bloodshed warning

Unrest has also continued in the main city of La Paz, where a strike shut the airport and road blocks cause shortages.
The chaos in La Paz prompted Congress to hold Thursday's session in Sucre, 600km south-east of La Paz.

Earlier on Thursday, the body postponed a formal vote on President Mesa's resignation, which he announced on Monday.

Congress had been thought likely to accept his offer.

The armed forces had appealed for calm and said they would respect Congress' decision.

However, opposition leader and presidential hopeful Evo Morales warned earlier that bloodshed would follow if Congress conferred the presidency on Mr Vaca Diez, as the constitution requires.

Left-wing protesters want early elections, as well as nationalisation of the energy industry and constitutional reform.

Indigenous rights

The protests erupted last month after a law was passed imposing taxes on foreign companies that have invested in Bolivia's gas reserves, thought to be the second-largest in South America.

The protesters said the law did not go far enough and called for the gas industry to be nationalised.

They also want constitutional reforms to give greater rights to the country's impoverished highlanders, most of whom are of indigenous descent.

They oppose demands from Bolivia's resource-rich eastern provinces for greater autonomy and more foreign investment.

Mr Mesa came to power 19 months ago after his predecessor was forced out by similar protests over energy.

Mr Mesa offered to quit during similar protests in March, but the offer was rejected by Congress.