From Deseret News archives:
Bolivian president to resign after deadly protests, ally says
Sanchez de Lozada said he would issue a statement late this afternoon. His government coalition received a crippling blow earlier in the day as his last key supporter withdrew after weeks of nationwide street demonstrations.
Jaime Paz Zamora, a former president himself, called the impending announcement by Sanchez de Lozada a "patriotic decision." Asked by reporters whether he meant a presidential resignation, Paz Zamora responded, "You are intelligent people. You know what it is."
Bolivian radio station ERBOL said Sanchez de Lozada had abandoned the presidential residence where he has been working for several days, away from the presidential palace in the downtown area where massive protests have been taking place.
Thousands of Bolivians marched through La Paz for a fifth straight day today, demanding the 73-year-old Sanchez de Lozada step down 14 months into his second term. Columns of students, Indians and miners brandishing sticks of dynamite threaded past street barricades, shouting, "We will not stop until he's gone!"
With chaos in the streets, military planes airlifted hundreds of stranded foreigners from Bolivia's capital.
The U.S. military dispatched an assessment team to Bolivia today to determine if plans need to be updated for protecting or evacuating the American embassy, a military spokesman said.
The team of fewer than six military experts will assess the situation on Bolivia's streets and recommend possible changes to the embassy's evacuation and protection plans, said Army Lt. Col. Bill Costello, a spokesman for U.S. Southern Command.
On Thursday, the U.S. State Department warned Americans to defer travel to Bolivia.
Bolivia's president temporarily suspended the gas export plan last week in the face of riots, which human rights groups said claimed as many as 65 lives. But the demonstrations for his resignation continued.
Late Wednesday, the president sought to defuse the growing crisis with a nationally televised address in which he offered to hold a national referendum vote over the plan. But opponents rejected that offer.
In defending the plan, the president calls the gas resources "a gift from God" that would bring millions of dollars annually to a cash-strapped Andean country. But few here believe his claims that average Bolivians, many of whom earn only a few dollars a day, would benefit.
