Trial call for Bolivian ex-leader

Mr Sanchez de Lozada's free-market policies were unpopular

A Bolivian opposition leader has called for the former President, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, to be tried for crimes against humanity.

Movement Towards Socialism leader Evo Morales asked the attorney general to start legal proceedings.

He said the ex-president should face trial for the deaths of more than 70 people during anti-government protests over the last month.

The president resigned last week and his deputy, Carlos Mesa, took over.

Mr Morales - who was Mr Sanchez de Lozada's main political opponent - said the defence and interior ministers should face also face trial.

He also said the United States should not protect the former president by granting him asylum.

Mr Sanchez de Lozada travelled to Miami, Florida, after resigning last Friday.

Judicial sources say if the attorney general, Oscar Crespo, decides to proceed with the case, it will go to the Supreme Court and then to Congress for a vote on whether it should go to trial.

Trial period

Indigenous groups and trade unions are maintaining their pressure on President Mesa's administration.

Indigenous leader Felipe Quispe, who also leads the Single Trade Union Confederation of Bolivian Peasant Workers (CSUTCB), has announced a truce to open negotiations with the new president.

He gave Mr Mesa, who served as vice-president under Mr Sanchez de Lozada, 90 days to fulfil demands to abandon a controversial gas project and US-backed coca eradication programme or face new protests.

Mr Morales has said he will support reform under Mr Mesa but the state will have to abandon neo-liberal economic policies.

"Within a month, he has to start giving some clear signs," Mr Morales told the Associated Press news agency.

Landless peasants who occupied an estate belonging to the former president have also threatened more land occupations if the new administration fails to address their concerns.