Bolivian president falls prey to own prophecy

Carlos Mesa (R), named President of Bolivia is greeted by Hormando Vaca Diez, president of the Congress on Friday in La Paz. Mesa was named by the Congress after accepting the resignation of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. PHOTO: AFP

On Friday, just 14 months into the job, his prophecy came true.

After a month of deadly protests by thousands of Bolivians -- from humble street vendors to Indian miners and coca farmers -- furious at his free market economic policies and failure to curb poverty, Sanchez de Lozada on Friday resigned in a letter to Congress.

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"I put my resignation before the consideration of the beloved Congress," Sanchez de Lozada said in the letter read aloud to Congress by an official as government opponents heckled, screaming "murderer." Congress accepted his resignation in a vote.

His second presidency -- Sanchez de Lozada ruled Bolivia from 1993-97 -- was supposed to last until August 2007.

"If we don't act today, if we don't reestablish economic growth and protect those that have the least ... then desperation could put democracy in danger," Sanchez de Lozada said as he was sworn in on August 6, 2002.

Elected with 22 percent of the vote on a platform to bust corruption and social exclusion in a land where nearly two thirds of the population is poor, he boasted he was the "only politician to make it to the presidency already rich and didn't need to steal".

But the 73-year-old U.S.-educated businessman, who speaks Spanish with a thick American accent and is one of the richest people in Bolivia, ignored widespread opposition to a U.S.-backed drive to eradicate coca crops and a plan to export gas to the United States until it was too late to turn back.

His presidency was blighted by protests. In February he was smuggled out of his La Paz presidential palace in an ambulance after an International Monetary Fund-backed austerity drive sparked massive riots in which 32 people died.

He slumped in polls as he failed to jump-start an economy stagnant for the past 20 years -- his approval rating was just 9 percent according to recent polls.

Sanchez de Lozada was handed the presidency by Congress last year after he failed to get enough votes for an outright win at the polls, forcing his National Revolutionary Movement to build a coalition that fell apart amid deadly clashes between troops and protesters that have killed an estimated 74 people.

The man he barely beat to the post, Indian coca farmer leader Evo Morales, was one of the main leaders of the past month's protests. However it is his vice president, political independent Carlos Mesa, who is tipped to take the helm.

Lozada is married with two children -- his daughter Alejandra is an elected lawmaker in his own party, his son Ignacio is an economist. He has four grandchildren.

Lucky for him, his recent prophecy that he would have to be carried out of the presidential palace dead before he quit failed to materialise.