MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia calls for international observers

Bolivian President Carlos Mesa arguing the country is undergoing one of the most critical situations of its history as a republic” requested Argentina, Brazil and the United Nations to send observers.

The letters were addressed to President Nestor Kirchner, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The request for observers came hours before a crucial session of Congress scheduled to take place in Sucre when legislators will consider the President Mesa's resignation offer made earlier in the week. Apparently Mr. Mesa expected his resignation offer would appease protests and street violence but it actually had a contrary reaction.

In the letters Mr. Mesa argues the Bolivian Congress will be taking "a significant decision for democracy, political stability and the future of the nation, currently in a situation of acute convulsion and social polarization".

The accreditation of one or more representatives as observers from Brazil, Argentina and the U.N. would be a "gesture that Bolivia's situation is of importance in the regional and hemispheric context", added Mr. Mesa.

Legislators have to decide whether to accept the resignation and if they do, according to constitutional succession Senate President Hormando Vaca Diez would be voted in, a candidate Mr. Mesa has also suggested he resigns opening the way for anticipated national elections.

The call for new elections has been supported by the peasants and miners organizations that have taken to the streets of La Paz and blocked Bolivia's main routes virtually paralyzing the country.

Protestors have been on the move for almost a month demanding a constitutional assembly and the nationalization of energy resources and the oil industry, thus anticipating the strong autonomous movement that has emerged in the rich provinces of Bolivia and wishes to hold a referendum on the issue next August. Furthermore some of the more radical protestors are calling for a violent uprising of the indigenous population against the "white elite" that has ruled the country since independence from Spain and dominates the country's economy.

Evo Morales leader of the opposition and the master mind behind much of the protests has warned that if Bolivia does not undergo an overhaul of the current ruling system, the indigenous Indian movement will become "unstoppable" and if not correctly handled will spark an outright civil war, as some of the more fundamentalist organizations are calling for.

Argentina and Brazil are highly dependent on Bolivian natural gas and Petrobras operates the Santos gas fields which contain some 14% of Bolivia's roughly 52 trillion cubic feet of known reserves.