Bolivia's newly-appointed President Carlos Mesa has sworn in late on Friday to replace Gonzalo Sanchezde Lozada, who resigned as president Friday amid riots and mounting calls for him to go.

Under Bolivia's constitution, Mesa can serve as president until the end of the elected term in August 2007. However, he has proposed an early election and shortened mandate, according to news reports reaching here.

Mesa, a former television reporter and a historian, entered politics in mid-2002 to run for office with Sanchez de Lozada. He is a member of the Bolivian History Academy.

Sanchez de Lozada, now 72, tendered his resignation to the Congress and left for his hometown, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Friday as his government's heavy-hand response to a rash of protests over the past month had left at least 86 people dead and 500 injured.

The deadly protests were triggered by the president's plan to export natural gas to the United States and Mexico through a Chilean port.

Many Bolivians, especially the predominantly indigenous Indian community, argued that the plan could only serve the interests of the rich, and the gas should not be routed through Chile, a longtime rival of Bolivia.

In addition, Sanchez de Lozada's high-handed policy had also resulted in dwindling support for him in his cabinet, with four ministers resigning.

Attempting to defuse the crisis, Sanchez de Lozada offered to hold a referendum over the natural gas export plan, Wednesday. But the protesters rejected the olive branch, saying there were too many deaths, and insisting that the president's resignation could be the only solution to the crisis.

On Thursday, tens of thousands of Bolivians marched on the country's capital of La Paz in their biggest-yet demonstration, continuing to seek Sanchez de Lozada's resignation.

Observers said the protests showed an eventual eruption of poor Bolivians' discontent about Sanchez de Lozada's economic policy, which they said failed to improve their lives and narrow the gap between rich and poor.

Sanchez de Lozada, the US-educated millionaire, embarked on a free-market plan in his first term from 1993 to 1997. He adopted a similar economic policy when he took power again in August 2002.

The impoverished Indian community accused the policy of being nothing but a tool to woo the International Monetary Fund at the price of Bolivians' basic interests.

(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2003)