 Violent protests forced Congress to suspend an emergency session intended to elect a new president Thursday as the nation's armed forces chief threatened military intervention if the rioting seriously escalates. A conservative senator later rejected moves to name him Bolivia's leader, hoping to defuse the crisis.
The weeks-old unrest registered its first death as protests erupted in violence near the southern city of Sucre. Thousands of miners and farmers clashed with riot police outside the whitewashed hall where the session was to have been held. Acrid white tear gas fired by helmeted officers mixed with black smoke belching from tires lit by the demonstrators.. Hormando Vaca Diez, in line to become president, took shelter in a local army regiment in Sucre, 450 miles southeast of La Paz, according to the independent television network PAT. The report could not be immediately confirmed. Vaca later said during a televised news conference that he would reject lawmakers' efforts to name him president in hopes that that would bring an end to the spreading protests. "I would decline irrevocably the presidency," Vaca said. He also accused opposition leader Evo Morales of sending protesters into the streets to block lawmakers from carrying out their duties. |