Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada agreed to step down amid spiraling social unrest, clearing the way for Vice President Carlos Mesa to succeed him, a senior ruling coalition source said.
“He will make his resignation official in a letter to Congress, and then we will move on to the succession” later Friday, the source said. Government spokesmen would not immediately confirm or deny the report. The president was huddled with advisers and scheduled to make an address to the nation later Friday, they said. Several radio stations broadcast the national anthem, and demonstrators in the streets of South America’s poorest nation began setting bonfires and celebrating. Many sang and chanted “all the way to the damn resignation!” Full Story
