Cabinet free of politicians

2003-10-20 11:19

La Paz, Bolivia - Bolivia's new President Carlos Mesa swore in his cabinet on Sunday, most of them independent of political parties, as Bolivians tried to recover from weeks of deadly street protests that brought down the previous government.

While a handful of the new ministers were once politicians with the leftist party called Free Bolivia Movement, the majority of the 15 ministers named are little-known economists and intellectuals.

Mesa created a new ministry called Ethnic Affairs, which will be led by Justo Seoane, an Indian from eastern Bolivia. He must still name a 16th minister for the Mining ministry.

President fled to US

Mesa, who had been vice president, took office on Friday after violent street demonstrations forced the former president to flee to the United States.

On Sunday, Mesa urged the new cabinet members to take their posts seriously, and watch every step.

"The abyss is still close at hand, and any mistake, any lack of perspective, any stinginess can push us over that abyss," he said.

Hours before the ceremony, Mesa scrambled to assemble the cabinet amid reports that the people he had hand-picked were hesitant to drop the projects they were working on to join a government he has said will be short-lived.

Most of those people were not in the final version of Mesa's cabinet.

- AP