Carlos Mesa
PEOPLE PROFILE is published every Tuesday and describes the professional background of key people emerging in the political and economic scenario.
Who is Carlos Mesa?
Carlos Mesa has been the new President of Bolivia since last Sunday. He was
promoted from his position as vice-president after Gonzalo Sánchez de
Lozada was forced to resign in the wake of a week of violent demonstrations,
which led to the deaths of 74 in clashes with the military.
Mesa assumes the presidency after the decisive diplomatic intervention of Brazil
and Argentina, which convinced Sánchez de Lozada to resign his post to
avoid increasing the tension and risking more deaths.
Now, Mesa, a former journalist and stranger to politics, is charged with rebuilding
public confidence in a country beset by economic, social and institutional crises
and widespread hunger.
The file:
Born
12 August 1953
Place of birth
La Paz, Bolivia
Education
Graduated with a degree in literature from the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés.
Public life
He shot to fame as a journalist and writer after writing one of the most widely
sold books in Bolivian history 15 years ago: 'Entre urnas y fusiles' (Between
the ballot box and the gun) chronicled the political lives of all of Bolivia's
former presidents.
He is married to Elvira Salinas and has two sons, Borja and Guiomar.
Timeline:
1976 - 1985 Founder and director of Cinemateca Boliviana. Works in radio,
the press and television.
1982 - 83 Deputy director of the daily 'Ultima Hora'.
1983 Launches an influential television programme 'De Cerca', which consists
of penetrating political interviews.
1986 - 90 Directed Channel 6 'América Televisión' and 2
'Telesistema Boliviano'.
1990 Creates the company Periodistas Asociados de Televisión (Associate
journalists of television) along with Amalia Pando, Ximena Valdivia and Mario
Espinoza. Now known as Red de Televisión, it is the company from which
he directed his main news programmes. He becomes a member of the Bolivian history
society.
1994 He wins the International Journalism Prize 'Rey de España',
in recognition of his contribution to journalism in the Hispanic world.
2000 Wins the journalism prize from the Fundación Manuel Vicente
Ballivián.
2002 Becomes the independent running mate of Gonzalo Sánchez de
Lozada in Bolivia's presidential election. Elected vice-president on 4 August.
2003 Sworn in as President of Bolivia after the resignation of Gonzalo
Sánchez de Lozada
Strong points
Despite his inexperience in politics, Mesa is widely respected, something which
sets him apart from Bolivia's corruption-tainted political classes. Mesa is
one of the most renowned intellectuals in Bolivia. He enjoys the unqualified
support of the US, Brazil and Argentina in his unexpected presidential foray.
The majority of Bolivia's political parties see in Mesa someone who will concentrate
on seeking ways to combat the average Bolivian's economic penury by ways outside
of the never-ending fiscal adjustment programmes dictated by the IMF and pursued
by all of his predecessors.
He is also popular with the people for immediately distancing himself from Sánchez
de Lozada after he sent the troops in on 13 October. While others hedged their
bets to see how events unfolded, Mesa instantly withdrew his support.
Weak points
As an unelected president he has no mandate and no party political power base,
which means he has no congressional power. He is not a politician and seems
unprepared to negotiate congressional support, which is good for society but
could paralyse his government.
Options
Mesa has two options. He could either work down the political route in congress,
which would mean forging an ad hoc alliance, or appeal over the political parties
directly to the people. So far he is leaning towards the second option. He has
worked on developing a public persona of a decent, honourable man, addressing
the people directly to apologise for the dreadful death toll and promising to
leave in 90 days if they feel he has not done a good job. This way he has sidestepped
congress and established himself as a caretaker president.
Several political commentators have suggested that Mesa has an historic opportunity,
like Brazil's Lula and Argentina's Néstor Kirchner, in presenting a non-traditional
political vision, revising the prevailing neoliberal dogma of the 1990s (he
is, for instance, likely to reject the IMF's fiscal adjustment package). They
argue that Sánchez de Lozada lost his grip on power precisely because
of his rigid adherence to economic orthodoxy. The problem with this is that
it presupposes that Mesa intends to hang around. At the moment he is putting
interim measures in place and forming a constituent assembly. At that point,
presidential elections will probably be called.
His future will depend upon his ability to balance the competing demands of
coca growers and US pressure to proceed with coca eradication. He also needs
to placate miners and fend off all talk that the situation in Bolivia is degenerating
into a 'race war' as Felipe Quispe, the leader of the Altiplano farmers, is
suggesting.