Mass protests and road blockades have intensified across Bolivia as workers, peasants, miners and supporters of former president Evo Morales mobilise against President Rodrigo Paz, deepening a political crisis less than six months into his administration.
Led by the Bolivian Workers’ Central, peasant organisations and mining unions, protests have shut down highways across much of the country and disrupted transport into the capital, La Paz. Markets have been emptied, fuel supplies have tightened and hospitals have reported shortages of oxygen and other essential materials as blockades continue for a second week.
Demonstrators are demanding wage hikes, access to fuel, relief from soaring prices and the reversal of economic policies introduced by Paz, whose government ended long-standing fuel subsidies and strengthened ties with the United States shortly after taking office. Protesters have accused the administration of pushing a business-friendly agenda aligned with Washington while workers and poor communities shoulder the burden of inflation and shortages.
Clashes broke out this week in La Paz as police confronted protesters attempting to march toward the city centre. Supporters of Morales joined labour and peasant organisations in calling for Paz’s resignation, denouncing what they described as a pro-US administration that has deepened Bolivia’s economic crisis while relying on repression to contain dissent.
Paz has threatened arrests against those behind the blockades, saying “those seeking to destroy democracy will go to jail,” while government officials blamed “dark forces” for attempting to destabilise the state. But protest leaders say the unrest is rooted in worsening material conditions, including rising food prices, fuel scarcity and unemployment.
Morales, whose Movement Toward Socialism dominated Bolivian politics for nearly two decades before last year’s elections, said the protests reflect unresolved structural problems. “As long as structural demands — such as those concerning fuel, food and inflation — remain unaddressed, the uprising will not be quelled,” he said.
The United States has publicly backed Paz. US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said Washington supports the Bolivian government and condemned the blockades, while several allied governments in Latin America also voiced support for Paz.
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