Mesa's role?

01.31.2004

Talking w/ Paola last night, she made an interesting point. If the "responsibility" trial against Goni includes all his former ministers, why doesn't it also include Mesa, Goni's vice-president? After all, if every single minister is considered an "accomplice" to Goni's alleged crimes (what role did the minister of sports play?), why not Mesa, who was vice-president the entire time? Should he also stand trial as a member of the Goni administration? And if not, why not?

The conversation stemmed from my mentioning that Parliament had voted Thursday to move to Sucre (Paola's home town) in case of "necesity" (Solares has threatened to "seize power" by closing down the legislature by force). Paola scoffed.

In 2002, Mesa (as the MNR's VP candidate) had, during a campaign stop in Sucre, promised to move the seat of the legislature & executive back to Sucre (here's an article from a Sucre's Correo del Sur reminding him of this). He hoped to score votes. Now, Mesa stands opposed to Thursday's legislative vote. So. Which is it?

BTW, if you didn't know, Bolivia officially has two capital cities: La Paz & Sucre. The executive & legislature sit in La Paz (the "political" capital); the supreme court sits in Sucre (the "constitutional" capital). Sucre's also where the capitol used to be, 'til moved to La Paz.

Posted by Miguel at 04:07 PM