The Bolivian Congress has ended a presidential tie, picking millionaire mining executive Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada to lead the South American country as it confronts economic problems and growing social unrest.
Sanchez de Lozada, majority owner of Compania Minera del Sur (Comsur) and president of Bolivia from 1993 to 1997, won the congressional vote by an 84-43 margin over Evo Morales, a radical Indian leader of Bolivia’s coca growers.
Sanchez de Lozada and Morales were the top two vote-getters in a national election in June, but neither won an outright majority, forcing the congressional vote.
Sanchez de Lozada assured his victory by forming an alliance with his rival, leftist former president Jaime Paz Zamora.
Comsur is the largest mining company in Brazil, with mines covering almost the entire country, as well as northern Argentina. Sanchez is also chairman of Toronto-listed Orvana Minerals.
In 1996, a rupture in a dyke at one of Comsur’s Bolivian mines caused 235,000 tonnes of pollutants, including arsenic and cyanide, to spill into various river systems whose waters run to Paraguay and Argentina.
Be the first to comment on "Mining exec wins Bolivian election"