by Alvaro Zuazo

By ALVARO ZUAZO, Associated Press Writer
LA PAZ, Bolivia - President Carlos Mesa said he would submit his resignation to Congress after 17 months in office, warning that growing protests against Bolivia's oil and gas laws could soon block the country's highways and isolate its main cities.

AP Photo

If lawmakers accept his resignation, Mesa would be the second leader driven from office by popular protests in less than two years in South America's poorest country. In October 2003, Mesa succeeded President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who resigned in the wake of bloody street protests that took the lives of at least 56 people.

"Tomorrow, I will submit my resignation to the president of Congress, so Congress can make a decision," Mesa said in a nationally broadcast address Sunday.

As the president made his emotional address, scores of people gathered in front of the presidential palace to express support for the historian-turned-politician.

A woman demonstrator, tears in her eyes, told a local television station that she supports Mesa "because he's our president. We do not want to fall in the hands of coca growers, thieves, communists."

Whether Congress will accept Mesa's resignation is uncertain. As an independent candidate he lacks the backing of a political party, but he has a fair degree of popular support. If he steps down, Senate President Sen. Hormando Vaca Diez would be his constitutional successor.

Since taking office, Mesa has been hounded by a series of protests. They included calls for autonomy by Bolivia's wealthiest region, protests demanding lower fuel prices and demands for increases in taxes levied on foreign oil companies from 15 to 50 percent of their sales.

Mesa's announcement came after Evo Morales, an Indian congressman and leader of the nation's coca leaf growers, announced a nationwide road blockade unless lawmakers pass a law raising the taxes foreign oil companies would pay — a law that Mesa says the international community wouldn't accept.

"In the coming hours, the entire country may be blockaded," Mesa said. "Sucre is already totally isolated from the rest of the country. It is possible that in three of four days the main cities, especially La Paz, won't have any fuel, supplies or food."

He said he's not prepared to send troops or police to clear the roads, because that would lead to violence.

Mesa blamed Morales and social leader Abel Mamani of the neighboring city of El Alto for what he called an atmosphere of instability in the Andean nation.

Mamani has called for a general strike starting Wednesday demanding the government cancel the contract with troubled, French-controlled company Aguas del Illimani, which provides water to La Paz and the nearby city of El Alto.

Morales appeared surprised by Mesa's announcement, which he called "a blackmail by the president." He said his party, the Movement Toward Socialism, was to meet on Monday to make on a decision on Mesa's announcement.

In February, Mesa shuffled his Cabinet after massive street protests calling for regional autonomy and objecting to a planned increase in the price of fuel oil.

An autonomy drive by Santa Cruz, the nation's richest province, had earlier forced Mesa to grant concessions clearing the way for provinces to elect their own governors, who are now appointed by the president.

It was not immediately known when Congress would meet to vote on the president's resignation. The next regular session was scheduled for Tuesday, but given the new events a special session may be convened for Monday.

U.S.-backed eradication of Bolivia's coca leaf, the base ingredient of cocaine, depends on a moderate government like Mesa's. Many of the president's would-be challengers decry meddling by the United States and say the coca crackdown has deprived thousands of poor farmers of their livelihoods.

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