Bolivian lawmakers deal with chaos

SUCRE, Bolivia -- Bolivian lawmakers accepted Carlos Mesa's resignation from the presidency in an emergency session late Thursday and congressional leaders refused to assume the post, clearing the way for possible early elections amid violent protests and a military threat of intervention.

The moves to defuse Bolivia's political crisis came hours after the unrest registered its first death as protests erupted in violence near the southern city of Sucre.

Thousands of miners and farmers clashed with riot police outside the whitewashed hall where the session was to have been held. Acrid white tear gas fired by helmeted officers mixed with black smoke belching from tires lit by the demonstrators.

Hormando Vaca Diez, next in line to become president, said during a televised news conference that he would reject lawmakers' efforts to name him president in hopes that that would bring an end to the spreading protests.

"I would decline irrevocably the presidency," Vaca said. He also accused opposition leader Evo Morales of sending protesters into the streets to block lawmakers from carrying out their duties.

House leader Mario Cossio -- who is next in line to the presidency after Vaca also said he doesn't want the job -- as lawmakers met late Thursday to seek a resolution to the crisis.

The protesters have been demanding that both Vaca and Cossio step down to allow the third-in-line, Supreme Court Justice Eduardo Rodriguez, take power and call early elections. Rodriguez has already said he supported an early vote, a position that could ease tensions.