Incidents, pickets and chaos in Bolivia due to a march against President Rodrigo Paz

Thousands of workers and militants related to Evo Morales left in the morning from the neighboring city of El Alto and arrived around noon in La Paz, where a tight police cordon guarded Plaza Murillo, where the Government Palace and Congress are located.

“I should fucking resign!”shouted the crowd of peasants, workers, miners, transporters and teachers who paralyzed the streets of La Paz for a couple of hours, The seat of government has been isolated for three weeks due to road blockades that have caused a serious shortage of food, fuel, medicines and, what is most worrying here, the essential medical oxygen in hospitals.

The access to the main square, in front of the government palace, is guarded with bars and guarded by hundreds of riot police.

Many businesses closed their doors and street vendors collected their merchandise for fear of looting. Protesters are blocking routes, including the road that leads to the El Alto airport, although the road was clear shortly after 2 p.m. (3 p.m. in Argentina).

“We are closing the airport because tear gas is entering here to repress our brothers,” they said from the neighborhood meetings.

Dressed in helmets or ponchos, the protesters, many of them carrying indigenous flags, advanced amid the noise of firecrackers towards the center of the city, where the scene of bullfights, throwing stones and tear gas that was already seen several days this week was repeated.

On Monday, the protests became a true pitched battle, which ended with dozens of injuries, more than 120 detainees, and requests from some political leaders to establish a “state of exception,” a proposal discarded by the Paz government.

Although in recent days the fury seemed to calm down, there are still dozens of roadblocks on the routes, which translates into a siege on La Paz, where for days there have been long lines to get chicken, eggs and other essential foods, which have also increased their prices exponentially, amid scarcity and speculation.

Fifty pickets are recorded on the country’s roads this Friday, according to official data. The government reported that four people died when they were unable to reach medical centers in an emergency.

On Thursday, President Paz launched a new call for dialogue. “It is time to overcome historical divisions. The Homeland is above all ideology, collective well-being must always prevail over any political process or individual positioning,” he said.

Mario Argollo is the executive secretary of the COB, which promoted the blockades and protests last Saturday in different parts of Bolivia. An arrest warrant is pending against him, for public instigation to commit a crime and terrorism.

This Friday he reappeared in a video recorded from hiding and spread on his social networks.

“Bolivian people, here from clandestinity I address all of you, through this means we have had to reach out to all our bases because unfortunately the political persecution of the government has reached the leadership,” said Argollo.

“We want to express our harsh criticism of the presidential message, unfortunately there has not been a press conference with clear answers to the population, rather it has been a provocation by criminalizing us calling the leaders vandals,” he added.

He thus referred to a statement by President Paz, who showed himself willing to negotiate with social and political leaders, but called the authorities of the Bolivian Workers’ Central, whom he accused of damage and looting in the march last weekend, “vandals.”

With barely six months in power, Paz faces the worst economic crisis in the Andean country since the 1980s, with inflation of 14% year-on-year recorded in April.

In the midst of the social upheaval, the government announced this week that it would reorganize its cabinet with officials with “listening capacity.” In his first change, he appointed a new Minister of Labor.

The initial demands for salary increases, quality fuels and the stabilization of the economy became more radical as the days went by.

Now the protesters are calling for the departure of the president, who put an end to 20 years of socialist governments led by Evo Morales (2006-2019) and Luis Arce (2020-2025).