Road-blocking protests across Bolivia and the transformation of the capital La Paz into a battleground between demonstrators and police have entered a second week. This marks the most chaotic period in the six-month tenure of center-right President Rodrigo Paz Pereira since he ended nearly two decades of left-wing rule by the Movement Toward Socialism (Mas) party.
One of his first moves was to restore relations with the United States, which now describes the uprisings as 'an ongoing coup' against Paz Pereira. Alongside domestic unrest, the Bolivian president sparked a diplomatic crisis by ordering the immediate expulsion of Colombia's ambassador to La Paz on Wednesday, in response to comments by leftist President Gustavo Petro.
Last Sunday, Petro reposted a video claiming Paz Pereira was 'a puppet of the US' and commented that Bolivia was experiencing a 'popular uprising' that was 'a reaction to geopolitical arrogance'. Announcing the expulsion of Ambassador Elizabeth García on Wednesday, Bolivia's Foreign Ministry said the decision was to 'defend the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs'. Shortly after, Petro told a Colombian radio station that Bolivia was 'slipping into extremism'.
The protests have so far caused four deaths – one protester died in clashes and three others are believed to have died due to roadblocks that prevented them from receiving proper medical care – along with dozens injured and more than 40 roadblocks nationwide as of Wednesday. On Tuesday, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau declared the protests were 'an ongoing coup'. Speaking in Washington, Landau said: 'Make no mistake about it; this is a coup funded by a corrupt alliance between politics and organized crime across the region.'
Bolivia is experiencing its worst economic crisis in four decades, with shortages of dollars and fuel, and rising inflation, lingering from the final years of President Luis Arce's tenure under Mas. Paz Pereira, son of former president Jaime Paz Zamora (1989–1993), took office promising 'economic shock therapy', but conditions have not improved and some of his measures have proved unpopular. One of his first decisions was to end two-decade-old fuel subsidies, promising the free market would bring higher quality fuel to the country. Instead, shortages continued, and soon after the 'dirty fuel' crisis erupted, after part of the supply was found to be adulterated. The president says he is a victim of alleged 'sabotage' by former officials linked to Mas.
The historic leader of Mas, former president Evo Morales, also casts a troubling shadow over the current administration. The country's first indigenous president has been hiding since late 2024 in the coca-growing region of Chapare, where hundreds of farmers prevent police or the military from serving an arrest warrant for fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl in 2006. Morales is currently being tried in another province on human trafficking charges related to alleged political favors for the girl's parents. He is not attending court and the judge has issued a new arrest warrant to bring him before the court. Presidential spokesman José Luis Gálvez said Morales was stoking unrest to 'avoid his trial'. Morales denies this and says the uprisings are 'against the implementation of the neoliberal model', adding that 'it is fair and necessary that thousands of victims of dirty fuel begin civil action'.
