After 17 months as Bolivia's president, Carlos Mesa was at the end of his tether. Roadblocks thrown up in protest against multinationals, higher fuel prices and much else were making life a misery and, said the government, costing South America's poorest country $3.8m a day in lost business. Congress had blockaded the president's legislative programme with equal efficiency. So on March 6th Mr Mesa went on television to denounce his enemies and to demand that Congress and Bolivians let him govern, or he would quit. The theatrics appeared to work. Two days later Congress rejected his resignation and agreed to a four-point pact intended to make Bolivia governable and to allow Mr Mesa to serve out his term, which ends in 2007. But the most radical troublemakers quickly rejected the deal. Nor is it clear how faithfully Congress will honour it. Bolivia has been on edge since October 2003, when 59 demonstrators were killed during similar protests. These succeeded in their aim of forcing the resignation of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, the elected president. Mr Mesa, his vice-president, took over. Despite his gambit this week, more chaos may lie ahead.
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机译：在担任玻利维亚总统17个月后，卡洛斯·梅萨（Carlos Mesa）陷入了困境。政府表示，为抗议跨国公司，提高燃油价格以及许多其他事情而设置的路障，使生活陷入困境。政府说，这使南美最贫穷的国家每天损失380万美元的业务。国会以同样的效率封锁了总统的立法计划。因此，3月6日，梅萨先生上电视去谴责敌人，并要求国会和玻利维亚人让他执政，否则他将辞职。戏剧似乎起作用了。两天后，国会拒绝了他的辞职，并同意了旨在使玻利维亚具有统治力并允许梅萨先生履行其任期的四点协议，该协议于2007年结束。但最激进的制造者迅速拒绝了这一协议。尚不清楚国会将如何忠实地兑现它。自2003年10月以来，玻利维亚一直处于边缘，当时在类似的抗议活动中有59名示威者被杀。他们的目的是迫使当选总统贡萨洛·桑切斯·德·洛萨达（Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada）辞职。他的副主席梅萨先生接任了职务。尽管他本周有自己的能力，但未来可能还会有更多混乱。
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