Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies.
The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation.
Photo: EPA
“The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue.
On Tuesday, the Bolivian Congress lifted restrictions on him announcing a state of emergency, paving the way for Paz to possibly deploy troops to restore order.
Paz has so far emphasized the need for dialogue, but has not ruled out using “constitutional instruments” to end the blockade of La Paz — an allusion to declaring a state of emergency.
“Anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution,” he said, adding that the police and military have the public’s support.
His warnings came as thousands of indigenous women in traditional layered skirts marched through La Paz on Mother’s Day in Bolivia, in support of striking transport workers.
“We are not afraid to die. We have already told him to pack his bags and leave,” protester Marta Poma Luque told reporters, referring to Paz.
The demonstrations began early last month with demands for salary increases to help workers weather a severe economic crisis, stable fuel supplies and the rescinding of agrarian reforms.
Despite some concessions by Paz, including on land reform, the protests ballooned into a full-blown revolt.
Over the past two weeks, La Paz has been turned into a battleground, with riot police repeatedly clashing with protesters.
His government accuses former Bolivian president Evo Morales — in hiding from charges of trafficking a teenage girl with whom he allegedly fathered a child — of orchestrating the upheaval.
Morales told reporters in an interview on Wednesday that Bolivians are furious because Paz oversees “a government that is utterly submissive” to Washington.
“I am totally convinced this rebellion is against the neo-liberal model and the neo-colonial state,” said Morales, who led Bolivia from 2006 to 2019 and fled to Mexico amid a popular uprising against him after a disputed election.
He returned from exile in 2020.
Bolivia’s first indigenous president spoke in a virtual interview from his political stronghold in the Chapare region. He is holed up there to elude arrest on the charges of sexually abusing a minor.
In the past few days, La Paz residents have staged small counterdemonstrations against the blockades that are preventing essential supplies from getting through to the city.
“Medicine is getting more expensive and some are running out,” said Zulm Hinojosa, whose 13-year-old son has asthma and heart problems.
At the Clinicas de La Paz public hospital, one of the oldest and largest in the country, doctors on Tuesday told reporters that they only had a few days’ oxygen left.
Paz has estimated the losses caused by the protests at US$600 million.
Paz has vowed to give indigenous groups and labor unions more of a say in policymaking.
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