The people have spoken. Thousands of Bolivians in many cities have come out and rallied behind President Mesa. Gratifyingly, the news photos showed lots of Indian faces. President Mesa’s victory from his ‘resignation’ seems to have forged a fragile consensus across the country in favor of freer markets, foreign investment and more openness to the world. This shows a lot of courage. Evo Morales vows to make trouble but he does not seem to be gaining traction. His roadblocks are being dismantled or driven right through, only one big one remains, near Cochabamba. Meanwhile, President Mesa is beginning to reach out to potential new supporters, declaring himself in alignment with the estimable President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brasil. In short, he is using his ex-television-announcer’s charisma to tell the Indians to dump Morales and join him, trust him, know that he won’t let them down, won’t give their country away, will bring them the jobs and prosperity they need and know that they will not become state dependents. It’s a very skillful performance – but we also know that he is walking on a political tightrope and is up against very determined enemies. Hence, the continued drama.

PRESS RELEASE, MAR 9 (dated Mar 10): U.S. State Department official Roger Noriega in testimony to Congress offers support to President Mesa and underlines important elements in building a democracy. Noriega says the most successful democratic leaders in the Americas are those who reach out to the political opposition, civil society and minority groups. Noriega said dialogue builds trust, and “trust is the key element in encouraging real political participation and keeping the political pot from boiling over.” He also said that strong leadership, a willingness to make tough decisions, the forging of a national consensus and carrying out a reform agenda are all important. He said U.S. assistance programs include legal-code reform and judicial training to anti-corruption projects and conflict resolution. But U.S. aid, in and of itself, cannot guarantee the deepening of the WesternHemisphere’s “democratic roots,” he warned. I think this guy knows the score.

XINHUA, MAR 9: Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the UN says he’s pleased by the peaceful result in Bolivia where Congress decided to reject Pres. Mesa’s resignation. ‘Whatever you do, do it peacefully,’ the statement seemed to say.

PRESS RELEASE, MAR 9 (dated Mar. 12): A US AID official testified before US congress that the prime aim of US aid is to help develop civil society institutions intent on fostering rule of law. In Bolivia, it’s set up something unpromisingly (given the leftist association) called a ‘Justice and Peace House’ for this purpose.

COUNTERPUNCH, approx MAR 9 (dated Mar 12): A Bolivia-based U.S. NGO director (who’s got the month wrong in her first sentence) writes that Pres. Mesa probably distanced himself from Evo Morales to curry more aid from the U.S. I do not agree with her analysis because it does not explain the galvanization of popular anger about the Morales roadblocks which affected so many people and their livelihoods. But it’s a different point of view.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, MAR 10 (dated Mar 11): Thousands gather in several cities to support Pres. Mesa and demand an end to roadside blockades put up by coca-growers’ leader, Evo Morales. The president called for the rally on Tuesday when he withdrew his resignation. It was a big show of unity with traditionally dressed Indians standing side by side with white and mestizo middle class Bolivians all calling for an end to Morales’ blockades.

REUTERS, MAR 10 (dated Mar 12): A U.S. general told a group at a Miami conference that Latin American military from countries excluded from US military aid because they won’t exempt US troops from the International Criminal Court jurisdiction are now getting training from China, which is filling the gap. Bolivia is one nation that is cited.

CHECKBIOTECH, MAR 10: Bolivia’s taken small steps to permit Roundup-ready genetically modified seeds be planted, in Santa Cruz. The move follows a similar move by Brasil a couple weeks earlier to permit the seeds. Argentina has been raking in cash hand over fist on exports to China due to its early adoption of the GM seeds.

AGENCIA EFE, MAR 11: Roadblocks have been abandoned after Thursday’s pro-Mesa anti-roadblock protests, despite threats from Morales that they would increase. Only the roads to Cochabamba remain blocked, everywhere else is clearing out and there is no enthusiasm for these protests.

NARCONEWS, MAR 11: Luis Gomez writes that roadblocks have fallen apart, and in Santa Cruz, trucks are driving right through the blockades. Meanwhile, 36 anti-Mesa groups are meeting on how to regroup forces, all giving long boring speeches on their positions. He is optimistic but I have seen this stuff before and it doesn’t sound like they’re gonna get this together any time soon.

AFP, MAR 12: A four hour meeting between Mesa and Morales’ groups on the energy bill ended a breakdown of talks, with Morales calling it a ‘lost cause’ and the groups vowing to step up roadblocks.

AGENCIA EFE, MAR 12: In another stellar display of political skill, Pres. Mesa identifies himself as a center-leftist along the lines of Lula of Brasil or Kirchner of Argentina. To identify with Lula is unremarkable because the Brasilian president has consistently done the right thing and has a growing economy to show for it. The latter comparison, though, is screamingly laughable, (unless Mesa has something else up his sleeve and I think he does) – Kirchner is the president of the world’s biggest deadbeat nation and Mesa’s actions to keep contracts intact show a perfect interest in keeping Bolivia’s name good with the world and to attract investment to help develop the economy. Unlike Kirchner, Mesa’s a serious man. What’s even more incongruous is this, Mesa is trying to halt the blockades through rule of law – Kirchner ‘solves’ Argentina’s blockade problem by paying the blockaders – and by this creates more of them. Once again, Mesa is serious and Kirchner is not. Not only that, Kirchner represents a country that looks down on Bolivia, as this movie here is one example of. What is Mesa’s aim here? To separate the Indians from their radical Chavista masters like Evo Morales and assure them that their left-leaning interests will be respected over on his side. He needs their support, too, it’s one bitterly divided country and he doesn’t need to worry about the wealthier European-descended Santa Cruz people who are pro-free-market, since they will probably go along, so reaching out to the Indians is only going to do him some good. Notice that he now says he only resigned over the energy bill, not the blockades – by saying this, he tells the Indians he doesn’t condemn them for their blockades and is happy to invite them to join him. Besides this, he makes good allies with Kirchner and Lula by flattering them this way. I do not know the motive for identifying with Kirchner, he must need Kirchner’s help on something, which is fine. Mesa is one smart, smart, shrewd, intelligent president all around.

AGENCIA EFE EN ESPANOL, MAR 12: Mesa says the investment of Spanish/Argentine energy firm YPF is vital to Bolivia’s development. Spain is Bolivia’s top foreign investor.

ANSA (ITALY), MAR 12: Roadblocks persist in Evo Morales’ coca-growing stronghold of Chapare, east of Cochabamba.

AFP, EN ESPANOL, MAR 12: Bolivia’s unions have called a 48-hour strike over the hydrocarbons law on Tuesday and Wednesday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS EN ESPANOL, MAR 12: Pres. Ricardo Lagos of Chile repeated that his country had the greatest desire for dialogue with Bolivia over its long-running dispute over a route to the sea.

PRENSA LATINA EN ESPANOL OF CUBA MAR 12: This source has been unreliable in the past so I don’t use it much, but I have seen this story buried in news elsewhere – some judges don’t want to prosecute the roadblockers.

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Now for some thoughts from the Bolivian bloggers:

MABB’S MIGUEL writes that Evo Morales doesn’t seem to want to compromise at all, and may be shooting for higher things than merely the passage of the hydrocarbons law at 50% royalties. He thinks Hugo Chavez of Venezuela may be stoking Morales’ ambitions to be president. He also worries about Pres. Mesa’s refusal to use force on the roadblockers and hopes he doesn’t end up like the last president for that lack of will. He also writes that he’s only recently learned that Evo Morales is a bit too close to Chavez of Venezuela. If that is so, it should probably be more widely known and leveraged by Mesa if he can benefit from it. He sees a lot of continued uncertainty; Mesa is likely to benefit from his TV announcer experience, and Morales, because he didn’t sign any sort of accord to keep Mesa in office, will probably keep on roadblocking for political advantage now that his political power is evaporating.

CIAO’S MIGUEL writes that Morales remains a menace to Mesa because it doesn’t take many people to overthrow a president – even if Evo Morales only has 80,000 people, it’s enough to be big trouble. Similar to MABB’s Miguel, he says Mesa should use his personal charisma to strengthen the institution of the states. The army should be visible, too, in case Evo Morales gets any ideas. He also has a fascinating election projection, and forecasts that Morales will do nothing to moderate his radical extremist politics.

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And over on Lonely Planet, the tourists and backpackers report all’s calm except for the Cochabamba roadblock cited above, and from their point of view the coast is clear. They’ve generally stopped asking each other about the political unrest and are beginning to wonder about where to find the best Bolivian nightlife again.