Carlos Mesa
![Official portrait, 2004](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Carlos_Mesa._Su%C3%A1rez%2C_Antonio._2004%2C_Antonio_Su%C3%A1rez_collection%2C_La_Paz.jpg)
Born in La Paz, Mesa began a twenty-three-year-long journalistic career after graduating from university. He rose to national fame in 1983 as the host of ''De Cerca'', in which he interviewed prominent figures of Bolivian political and cultural life. His popular appeal led former president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada of the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR) to invite him to be his running mate in the 2002 presidential election. Though Mesa's moderate left-wing sympathies contrasted with centre-right policies of the MNR, he accepted the offer, running as an independent in a hotly contested electoral campaign. The Sánchez de Lozada-Mesa ticket won the election, and, on 6 August, Mesa took charge of a largely ceremonial office that carried with it few formal powers save for guaranteeing the constitutional line of succession. Shortly into his term, conflict between Sánchez de Lozada and Mesa arose. By October 2003, the increasingly tense situation surrounding the ongoing gas conflict caused a definitive break in relations between the president and vice president, leading the latter to announce his withdrawal from government after clashes between protesters and military personnel led to several deaths. Crucially, Mesa opted not to resign from his vice-presidential post and succeeded to the presidency upon Sánchez de Lozada's resignation.
Mesa assumed office with broadly popular civic support but leading a government without a party base and devoid of organic parliamentary support left him with little room to maneuver as his public policy proposals were severely restricted by the legislature—controlled by traditional parties and increasingly organized regional and social movements spearheaded by the ''cocalero'' activist and future president Evo Morales. As promised, he held a national referendum on gas which passed with high margins on all five counts. Nonetheless, widespread dissatisfaction resurged, and his call for a binding referendum on autonomies and the convocation of a constituent assembly to reform the Constitution failed to quell unrest. Mesa resigned in June 2005, though not before ensuring that the heads of the two legislative chambers renounced their succession rights, facilitating the assumption of the non-partisan Supreme Court judge Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé to the presidency. With that, Mesa withdrew from active politics and returned his focus to various media projects and journalistic endeavors. In 2014, despite previous animosity, President Evo Morales appointed him as the international spokesman for the country's maritime lawsuit against Chile before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a position he held until the final ruling at The Hague in 2018.
Mesa's work for the maritime cause propelled him back into the national consciousness, and he soon emerged as a viable alternative to Morales as a contender for the presidency, even surpassing the president in electoral preference polls. Shortly after the ruling by the ICJ, Mesa announced his presidential candidacy. In the 2019 election, Mesa was defeated by Morales, who failed to garner a majority but won a wide enough plurality to avoid a runoff. However, irregularities in the preliminary vote tally prompted Mesa to denounce electoral fraud and call for mass demonstrations, ultimately ending in Morales' resignation and an ensuing political crisis. The following year, snap elections were held, but numerous postponements and an unpopular transitional government hampered Mesa's campaign, resulting in a first-round loss to Movement for Socialism (MAS) candidate Luis Arce. Mesa emerged from the election as the head of the largest opposition bloc in a legislature that does not hold a MAS supermajority for the first time in over a decade. Provided by Wikipedia
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21by Cadavid-Iglesias,Edwin H., Vargas-Galvis,Fabio, López-Gómez,María Esperanza, Mesa,Carlos Mario, Vargas,Fabio Alonso, Latorre,Guillermo, Peña,Gabriel
Published 2018Digital revistaSCIELO -
22by Kliksberg, Bernardo comp. 42952, Sen, Amartya 33952, Mesa, Carlos E. 35918, Filmus, Daniel 49773, Ocampo, José Antonio 49714, Grynspan, Rebeca 49774, Roses, Mirta 49775
Published 2005Texto bibliotecaUNCO AR -
23by Valle-Leal,Jaime Guadalupe, Haro-Félix,Laura del Carmen, Serrano-Osuna,Ricardo, Aguilar-Campos,Jesús Abraham, López-Morales,Cruz Mónica, Londoño Mesa,Carlos Yovanny
Published 2022Digital revistaSCIELO -
24by Villar, Leonardo, Salazar, Natalia, Simpson, Mary, Delgado, Martha, Steiner, Roberto, Zapata, Juan G., Gracia, Orlando, Mesa, Carlos A., González, Gabriela, Trujillo, Felipe, Concha, Tomás, Vega, César
Published 2017-06-17T18:04:54ZbibliotecaFEDESARROLLO CO -
25by Kliksberg, Bernardo, Sen, Amartya, Mesa, Carlos, Filmus, Daniel, Ocampo, José Antonio, Grynspan, Rebeca, Roses, Mirta, Kirchner, Alicia, Genro, Tarso, Angulo, Carmelo, Hopenhayn, Martín, Bonder, Gloria, Stalsett, Sturla, Montes, Fernando, Prats I Catala, Joan, Busatto, Cézar, Molinas, José, Reos, Orlando, Azcueta, Michael, Vallaeys, François
Published c200Texto bibliotecaUBA FA -
26by Amartya, Sen. 407, Mesa, Carlos, Filmus, Daniel, Ocampo, José Antonio, Grynspan, Rebeca, Roses, Mirta 11535, Kirchner, Alicia, Genro, Tarso, Angulo, Carmelo, Hopenhayn, Martín, Bonder, Gloria, Stalsett, Sturla, Montes, Fernando, Catala, Joan Prats I 2531, Busatto, Cézar, Molina, José 9060, Reos, Orlando, Azcueta, Michel, Vallaeys, Francois
Published c200Texto bibliotecaUNER -
27by Kliksberg, Bernardo, comp., Sen, Amartya Kumar. 12227, Mesa, Carlos., Filmus, Daniel., Ocampo, José Antonio., Grynspan, Rebeca., Roses Periago, Mirta. 11534, Kirchner, Alicia., Genro, Tarso., Angulo, Carmelo., Hopenhayn. Martín., Bonder, Gloria., Stalsett, Sturla., Montes, Fernando., Prats I Catala, Joan. 10583, Busatto, Cézar., Molinas, José. 9069, Reos, Orlando., Azcueta, Michel., Vallaeys, François.
Published 2005Texto bibliotecaUNER