Carlos Mesa

Mesa recognised Áñez as the legitimate President and announced he would run again in the 2020 election. He also called all sides to moderation and condemned acts of violence.

On 6 October 2018 Mesa Gisbert joined the Revolutionary Left Front (FRI) and announced on his YouTube channel that he would run for President in the 2019 election. On 13 November 2018 the FRI formed with Sovereignty and Freedom the Civic Community coalition to support Mesa's bid for presidency. His candidacy was also externally supported by the National Unity Front.

Following a resurgence in protests, he tendered his resignation to congress on March 6, 2005; however, the legislators voted almost unanimously the next day to reject his offer. Still, domestic tensions between the poor and rural eastern highlands and the wealthier cities and oil-rich south continued to rise. Weeks of escalating street demonstrations and widening disorder reached a peak in June 2005 as tens of thousands of protesters marched into La Paz. Aware of his growing inability to control or influence events without resorting to violence, Mesa tendered his resignation to congress. This time, congress unanimously accepted his offer. The presidents of the two national legislative chambers at that point abdicated their constitutional powers in favor of Eduardo Rodríguez, the chief justice of the Supreme Court and new president of Bolivia. He was charged with the duty of swiftly organizing national elections, which led to the massive victory of MAS candidate Evo Morales in December 2005. Later, Evo Morales's government accused Carlos Mesa for economic damages to the country interests.

In addition, in January 2004, he announced that his government would hold a series of rallies around the country and at its embassies abroad, demanding that Chile return to Bolivia a stretch of seacoast that the country lost in 1879 after the end of the War of the Pacific. Chile has traditionally refused to negotiate on the issue, but Mesa nonetheless made this policy a central point of his administration seeking the popular support he lacked.

In July 2004, under pressure from the Movement towards Socialism (MAS) of the peasant trade unionist Evo Morales, he organised a "gas referendum" during which the majority of the population voted for the nationalisation of hydrocarbons. Faced with opposition from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and multinationals, he declared that this law was "impossible" to implement.

As the gas conflict escalated, Mesa ended discontent with the government's heavy-handed repression of the protests, which would leave over 60 people dead during September and October 2003. He did not resign, but he did withdraw his support for Sánchez de Lozada five days before the latter's resignation, saying: "I cannot continue to support the situation we are living through". Mesa also resigned his membership to the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement.

In September 2003, he addressed the UN General Assembly, where he warned:

On 17 October 2003 Sánchez de Lozada resigned and fled to the United States of America. Mesa thus assumed functions as President of Bolivia.

His widespread recognition prompted the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR) candidate Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada to pick him as running mate in the 2002 Bolivian presidential elections. The winning ticket of Sánchez-Mesa took office August 6, 2002. As vice president, Carlos Mesa also was the leader of Congress of Bolivia.

He grew up in La Paz, Bolivia. He enrolled in San Estaniis-lao de Kotska in Madrid. In 1971, He studied Literature in Las Universidades Complutense de Madrid . He entered the department of Political Science in the University of Madrid. Three years later, he returned to his native La Paz, and joined the Language and Literature Department of the University of San Andres.

In 1969, Carlos Mesa was a radio intern at Universo de La Paz, where he made his first debut as a journalist. He later developed two radio programs Méndez (1974) and Metropolitana (1976)

Carlos Diego Mesa Gisbert (born August 12, 1953) served as president of Bolivia from 2003 to 2005. He was vice president of Bolivia from August 2002 to October 2003. Mesa previously had been a television journalist. His widespread recognition prompted the MNR candidate Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada to pick him as running mate in the 2002 Bolivian presidential elections. The winning ticket of Sánchez-Mesa took office August 6, 2002. Soon after becoming vice president, a wave of protests and strikes shut down Bolivia in a bitter dispute known as the Bolivian Gas War. The demonstrations eventually forced Sánchez de Lozada to resign, which put forward Mesa as president.