Featured image: Bolivian strikers and workers march through La Paz. Photo: EFE.
Bolivia entered its fourth week of protests demanding the resignation of right-wing president Rodrigo Paz. On Monday, masses of disgruntled Bolivians filled the Paseo del Prado in downtown La Paz.
Columns of farmers from the southern La Paz region, residents of the city of El Alto, mine workers, neighborhood associations, and representatives of various unions expressed their condemnation of the government and its privatization plans. Alongside the main demonstration, a group of protesters was repressed by police when attempting to enter Plaza Murillo.
The demonstrations marked the fourth week of mobilizations called by the Bolivian Workers’ Central (COB), alongside more than 50 road blockades across six regions of the country.
During the day, there were also street blockades in La Paz over fuel shortages, while a group of protesters is preventing the entry and exit of passengers and packages at the gates of El Alto International Airport.
Resistance from the Aymara peoples of the Altiplano, along the route from La Paz to Oruro, prevented the military and a cabinet minister in charge of the operation from opening the roads, forcing them to withdraw from the area via alternative dirt roads.
During this operation, a 24-year-old farmer was killed, angering rural communities.
The Bolivian Workers’ Central proposed a dialogue with the government under two conditions: the release of those detained in recent clashes and the suspension of the arrest warrants against the organization’s leader, Mario Argollo, and other union leaders.
The government did not respond to this proposal. Previously, president Rodrigo Paz stated that those carrying out road blockades would face legal repercussions.
The Bolivian Road Administration recorded 59 route blockages across six of the country’s nine regions after a second police and military operation to clear the main highway between La Paz and Oruro failed on Saturday.
In compliance with a resolution for popular action issued by the Second Constitutional Chamber of La Paz, the union organization instructed its members to act in a humanitarian manner. The instruction ensures that at all blockade points, ambulances, emergency vehicles, health personnel, and medication are allowed to pass freely.
The official map placed the protests in La Paz, Oruro, Potosí, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz, while Beni, Pando, and Tarija remained free of road blockages.
The failed government operation attempted to open the route between La Paz and Oruro using tractors and police and military personnel. Tear gas was fired at protesters, who proceeded to reinstall obstacles, such as earth, stones, and logs, after the security forces passed through.
Evo Morales Claims US-Backed Military Plot To Kill or Detain Him in Bolivia
(Telesur)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/CB/SL
Cameron Baillie is an award-winning journalist, editor, and researcher. He won and was shortlisted for awards across Britain and Ireland. He is Editor-in-Chief of New Sociological Perspectives graduate journal and Commissioning Editor at The Student Intifada newsletter. He spent the first half of 2025 living, working, and writing in Ecuador. He does news translation and proofreading work with The Orinoco Tribune.
