Poor flex muscle in Bolivia

For Bolivia's growing army of Indian protesters, it never was a question of whether the nation's president would resign but when.

Thousands of chanting demonstrators armed with crude slingshots streamed into the besieged capital of La Paz for weeks in a bid to regain power, which they said was seized from them long ago by a powerful minority.

The poor majority's call for change has echoed across Latin America, as unpopular democratic governments face a backlash against globalization and a decade of U.S.-backed free-market reforms that failed to bring promised economic progress.

Bolivia's turmoil ended Friday with the resignation of President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and the installation of a new caretaker president, Carlos Mesa, who immediately called for elections.

Bolivian officials confirmed Saturday that Sanchez de Lozada left the country for the United States.

The outcome was reminiscent of the unseating of several governments across the region, from Argentina to Ecuador to Peru, in recent years.