Rodrigo Paz's government accuses the Evo Morales movement of trying to destabilize the country through protests and blockades.
Political tension increased even further after Morales' supporters began a 190-kilometer march to La Paz to demand the end of the legal cases against the former president, who faces a request for 20 years in prison for an aggravated human trafficking case involving a minor. The Bolivian judiciary even ordered his capture after declaring him in rebellion for failing to appear before the Tarija court.
At the same time, various union and social sectors began to add economic demands due to inflation, fuel shortages, and the deterioration of productive activity that existed prior to Paz's assumption of office. Cooperative miners engaged in violent clashes with the police in downtown La Paz using dynamite and demanding the president's resignation.
Although the government attempted to defuse part of the crisis by repealing the controversial land law rejected by peasants and indigenous people, protests continued to escalate and turned into openly political slogans against Paz's administration.
The Bolivian president publicly called for dialogue and assured that “Bolivia needs reconciliation,” but various official sectors are already warning that exceptional measures could be applied if blockades and street violence continue.
Bolivia is experiencing a growing supply crisis as a consequence of the roadblocks driven by union, peasant organizations, and sectors aligned with Evo Morales, amid a political escalation that has already caused strong clashes in La Paz and threats of destabilization against the government of Rodrigo Paz.
In recent days, the country recorded more than 20 simultaneous roadblocks, mainly in the departments of La Paz, Cochabamba, and Oruro, affecting the transport of food, fuel, medicine, and oxygen. Bolivian media are already reporting shortages of basic products in markets in the capital and long logistical delays due to the blockade on the main national routes.
The Bolivian government maintains that behind the protests there is a coordinated attempt at political destabilization led by sectors loyal to former president Evo Morales. Presidential spokesperson José Luis Gálvez even denounced the existence of a plan financed by drug trafficking to attempt to overthrow President Rodrigo Paz and break the constitutional order.
From the Executive, they particularly point to Chapare, the political and union stronghold of evismo, as the center of financing and organization of the mobilizations. “Bolivia will not be held hostage by Chapare politicians who, in alliance with drug trafficking, want to seize power by force,” declared Gálvez during a press conference.
