Goodbye, again

La Paz, Bolivia

Bolivian President Carlos Mesa this week announced his resignation for the second time in three months. Mesa said that a series of massive protests had made the country ungovernable, but he promised to stay on if Congress rejected his resignation, as it did the first time he tried to quit. Bolivia has been shaken by tens of thousands of protesters demanding the nationalization of the natural-gas industry, and greater autonomy for gas-rich Indian regions. The protests have paralyzed the capital, La Paz, and caused shortages of basic goods. “I’m really afraid,” said Luy Gutierrez, a street vendor. “Who knows how this will all turn out.”