Mass Protests, Political Crisis in Bolivia

Massive anti-government protests have paralyzed Bolivia, with thousands of miners, farmers, teachers, and political factions clashing violently with riot police in the capital city of La Paz. Demonstrators are demanding the resignation of the centrist President Rodrigo Paz, who took office just six months ago.

Transcript

Hi everyone. It’s been bubbling, but we should talk about Bolivia, where ongoing protests in the capital La Paz over the last two weeks have left the city feeling - as some commentators have called it - akin to being under siege. There were protests, blockades and occupations taking place, headed up by workers groups and supporters of ex-president Evo Morales (more on him in a minute). 

The current president, right-winger Roridgo Paz, was elected on an austerity platform, and on taking office said he had inherited a “bankrupt state”, and as such is unable to meet the demands of the protesting teachers, miners, and agrarian unions. Of course Paz, being a free marketeer, is also not politically minded to engage in the politics of state subsidies, and his administration is a sea change from the last 20 years of government in the Andean nation. His refusal to acquiesce until now, and also his referral to the “presence of dark forces” - a euphemism for Evo Morales - also marks a line in the sand in which he is positioning himself as the defender of democratic processes, but it’s a wait and see situation as regards to what extent the protesters can maintain their stranglehold on the capital, and whether Paz has the political strength to withstand them, given that he has no legislative majority or established political party to support him. 

What is certainly clear, and agreed by basically all, is that Paz’s first 6 months in power have done little to ease Bolivia’s fuel and economic crisis, which saw inflation reach 20% last year, and regularly sees fuel shortfalls in the country - in fact, a regular supply of petrol is one of the demands of the agrarian unions. 

On taking up his position as president, Paz had ended fuel subsidies, driving up prices, but it was what was to follow which generated unrest, where, in order to bring prices down, he imported lower quality fuel, which led to damage to vehicles, and led to unrest among transport workers. The scandal, which came to be known as the “gasolina basura” or “junk gasoline” crisis, led to widespread protests and resignations at Bolivia's state-owned oil and gas company. 

In the last couple of days, protests have widened, and we’ve seen violent clashes between protesters and police, as the situation threatens to escalate further. Notwithstanding, Paz began negotiating with some of the groups, and seems to have reached deals with the miners and the teachers, as well as deploying police and military across the capital to break up the protests. 

Former president Evo Morales, meanwhile, remains in hiding in the Chapare region of central Bolivia, operating from his stronghold in the town of Chimoré, where indigenous communities and supporters have sealed off the area to protect him. Morales last week failed to appear at a court hearing where he faces charges of statutory rape of a 15 year old, a charge he says is politically motivated, and has been held in contempt of court. The noise around Morales is increasing, with the US now seemingly adding him to a list of leftist leaders in Latin America who they want to apprehend. Morales, for his part, has accused the current government of Rodrigo Paz of orchestrating a politically motivated manhunt to eliminate leftist opposition.