Bolivia's capital under siege as protests deepen crisis for Paz

Isabel DeBre, Associated Press

Bolivia's President Rodrigo Paz faces a deepening crisis as widespread protests and blockades leave the political capital under siege less than six months after he took office. Two weeks of road closures — spearheaded by the Bolivian Workers' Central, COB, peasant unions and miners — have emptied markets in La Paz and depleted vital hospital oxygen reserves.

The government reported that at least three people died after emergency vehicles were blocked from reaching medical centers. On Monday, supporters of Bolivia's influential ex-President Evo Morales clashed with police in the capital city as they joined multiple sectors demanding the resignation of the president, who lacks both a legislative majority and a robust political party to anchor his administration.

The unrest presents the biggest challenge yet for Paz, a business-friendly centrist who came to power six months ago as a wave of conservative electoral wins swept the region. "Those seeking to destroy democracy will go to jail," Paz warned on Friday, even as the blockades expanded to engulf nearly the entire country. The COB began by demanding wage increases, while peasant unions demanded a steady supply of gasoline. The miners, meanwhile, are negotiating separately for access to additional mining areas. Public schoolteachers are also holding separate talks regarding salary improvements.

"These demands have been largely addressed in a manner consistent with current realities; however, there are dark forces seeking to destabilize our democracy," said presidential spokesperson José Luis Gálvez, in an allusion to influential former President Evo Morales.

Paz reiterates that he inherited a "bankrupt state," yet his adversaries reproach him for his sluggish response to the worst crisis in 40 years — marked by fuel shortages and an inflation rate that hovered near 20% last year. According to business organizations, ongoing protests and road blockades are draining more than $50 million per day from Bolivia's economy and have left roughly 5,000 vehicles stranded on the highways.

Morales marshaled the latest march from his hideout in Bolivia's remote tropics. He has been holed up in the highlands for the past year and a half, evading an arrest warrant on charges relating to his alleged sexual abuse of a 15-year-old girl. He says the allegations are politically motivated. The Movement Toward Socialism, MAS, which had governed Bolivia for the past two decades under Morales and later Luis Arce, suffered a historic defeat in last year's elections following a bitter feud between the two former leaders.

"The government and the right wing claim that I am a political corpse and that I lack the ability to mobilize anyone, yet they continue to blame me," Morales said recently on X. "As long as structural demands - such as those concerning fuel, food and inflation — remain unaddressed, the uprising will not be quelled." Despite his fiery rhetoric, analysts believe Morales no longer has the power to rally mass support, suggesting instead that he is fueling the protests purely to evade justice.

The collapse of the MAS era left the Bolivian political landscape deeply fractured, with no single party emerging as a dominant force.

Paz secured a surprise electoral victory, but the Christian Democratic Party — the vehicle for his rise to power — quickly fractured within the legislature. Meanwhile, the president remains locked in an open feud with his vice president, former police officer Edman Lara.

Paz began his term with vigor, reaching out to the international community to break the isolation that had characterized the MAS era. While his efforts secured various pledges of investments and loans, many of these funds have yet to materialize. As a first measure, he put an end to fuel subsidies, which drove up the prices of gasoline and diesel — yet without triggering protests among a population weary of previous shortages. However, the government imported low-quality gasoline, which sparked protests among transport workers over damage to their vehicles.

The "junk gasoline" scandal triggered a wave of strikes and protests among transportation workers and the resignations of two high-ranking officials at the state-owned oil company.

The ongoing protests and blockades in Bolivia worry the wider region. Eight allied Latin American governments, from Chile to Costa Rica, recently released a joint statement rejecting "any action aimed at destabilizing the democratic order."

Neighbouring Argentina said it would start a weeklong humanitarian airlift to alleviate shortages in the country. The United States, now rebuilding relations with Bolivia after years in which Morales defined the country in opposition to Washington, said it supported Paz's efforts "to restore order for the peace, security and stability of the Bolivian people." On Tuesday, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said on X that he spoke with Paz to affirm US support for Bolivia's legitimate government. Landau also condemned the organizers of blockades and riots, claiming without evidence that they have the backing of organized crime and drug traffickers.