Weekly Report - 27 January 2004

It was an eventful week for the government of President Carlos Mesa. On the encouraging side, the landless peasants called a halt to land invasions and the oil companies agreed to pay more tax. At the other end of the scales, the electoral authority has postponed for at least a month the referendum on the future of the gas industry, and the unions have served the government an ultimatum: meet a range of demands by mid-February or face countrywide protests and the closure of congress.