AFP profile of Bolivia's gringo ex-President

["Jose G. Perez" <jg_perez@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bolivia's "gringo" ex-president has European roots and a Yankee
education

LA PAZ, Oct 17 (AFP) - Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de  Lozada,
who resigned Friday amid spiraling social unrest, is a  former mining
tycoon and descendant of Bolivia's Spanish conquerors,  with an accent a
little too American for many of his people.

Some Bolivians called the US-educated 73-year-old Sanchez de  Lozada
"gringo" because of his accented Spanish. But popular  distaste became
acute in recent months because of the US accent of  his free market
policies.

Sanchez de Lozada started his second five-year term in August  2002. To
get the finances of South America's poorest country back in  order, he
enforced an International Monetary Fund-backed austerity  program.

But violent protests earlier this year forced him to back off  key parts
of the program. A special tax, reduced pensions and faster
privatization all had to be abandoned.

Sanchez de Lozada picked up his accent during his childhood and
university years in the United States. He studied philosophy and
liberal arts at the University of Chicago and was a film producer  when
he returned to Bolivia.

The ex-president laced his speeches with quotations from films  and
books. But his cutting Anglo-Saxon sense of humor did not sit  well with
many Bolivians.

Prior to his political career, his business instincts helped him  build
the biggest mining group in a country rich with natural gas,  oil and
minerals.

Sanchez de Lozada entered politics in 1977 at the age of 47. He  became
congressman for the city of Cochabamba, and was already in  his fifties
when he served as planning minister from 1985 to 1989  under his mentor,
President Victor Paz Estenssoro.

Though affable in nature, Sanchez de Lozada pushed through  unpopular
draconian economic reforms aimed at combating  hyperinflation.

The linchpin of his economic policy was the closure of all  Bolivia's
state-owned and money-losing tin mines, a moved that put  30,000 people
out of work.

Sanchez de Lozada's first presidency 1993-1997 saw a radical
privatization program.

He also supported US intervention to reduce Bolivia's production  of
coca leaf, from which cocaine is extracted. Bolivia was then the
world's largest coca producer.

But his popularity plummeted as critics branded him a puppet of
Washington and "a sellout" of national interests.

To win the presidency last year, Sanchez de Lozada resorted to  deals
with minority parties.

But Jamie Paz Zamora, who preceded him as president, set a high  price
for his allegiance: six ministries, four of Bolivia's nine  regional
governments and the leadership of the lower house of the  legislature
for his party.

The president compromised on privatization plans, education and  a law
encouraging wider public participation in politics.

His greatest challenge was to unite the country behind plans to  exploit
the huge market in Mexico and the United States for Bolivian  natural
gas. However, the planned five-billion-dollar project has  become a
lighting rod for a host of grievances against the  government.

The country has had no access to the Pacific since it lost  territory to
Chile in an 1879-1884 war. Bolivia had Peru as an ally  in that
conflict. Even today, most Bolivians prefer Peru as home for  their gas
refining, even though technical studies suggest Chile  would be cheaper.

Coca leaf growers had also joined the increasingly violent  protests,
which saw more than 50 dead in recent weeks.

The United Nations, The United States and Organization of  American
States had supported Sanchez de Lozada. But unlike the  former
president, they may not have been talking the same language  as the
Bolivian people.



~~~~~~~
PLEASE clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.