Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz put two proposals on the table on Wednesday to soothe the country after weeks of protests and road blockades. He announced ministerial changes “to get closer to the people” and proposed forming a Social Economic Council that would include the mobilized actors and serve as a negotiating bridge between the state, productive sectors, and social movements. Hours earlier, his government told the Organization of American States (OAS) that the protests besieging La Paz, the city that hosts the seat of government, aim to “generate institutional destabilization.” Paz received shows of support. The strongest came from Washington, which warned it would not remain indifferent if street violence escalates. “We will not allow criminals and drug traffickers to overthrow democratically elected leaders in our hemisphere,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X on Wednesday.
Bolivia’s political and social crisis is worrying the entire region. The OAS held an extraordinary emergency meeting on Wednesday in which Bolivia’s foreign minister, Fernando Aramayo Carrasco, expressed his concern to attendees by videoconference and asked the body to conduct political monitoring of events. The foreign minister asked for support “to reaffirm the hemispheric commitment to preserving democratic and constitutional order in Bolivia, condemn all forms of political violence, organized coercion, and actions intended to disrupt the normal institutional functioning of the state.” According to the minister, the demonstrations “exceed the legitimate exercise of social and political protest” and are aimed at “generating institutional destabilization, weakening the government, and disrupting democratic order.”
On measures to be taken, Paz avoided specifying when he would announce the new cabinet, but said the council would begin to take shape this weekend and meet monthly to issue recommendations and propose changes to structural laws. The changes are a clear gesture to the mobilized sectors, which include Aymara Indigenous people, peasant workers, salaried miners, and factory unions, who accuse the president of turning his back on them and surrounding himself only with business and agroindustrial elites.
The centrist-right president assumed power six months ago after two decades of hegemony by the leftist Movement for Socialism (MAS). On Wednesday he held a press conference, adopting a conciliatory tone and offering self-criticism: “We have failed to get closer to other sectors. For the past three weeks I have been meeting with some of the protesters and their demand is, ‘we want to be part of the solutions.’” He also addressed some of the protesters’ major concerns, assuring that he will not privatize strategic state-owned companies while ruling out a repeat of past government models: “This government is not a replica of the past.”
He also pledged not to support an anti-blockade law being drafted in the Assembly, which social movements reject because blockades are their main form of protest, but he called for the creation of a new humanitarian corridor like the one agreed over the weekend to allow entry of food, fuel, and medical oxygen.
The Bolivian president did, however, place a limit on dialogue: respect for the popular will at the ballot box. He warned he would not negotiate with protest leaders calling for his resignation. “Is vandalism acceptable? No. And I will not dialogue with vandals. Let’s not confuse sectors with some individuals or people who are motivated to interrupt democracy,” he said. Paz alleges that behind the protests is former president Evo Morales, who is currently on the run from justice over an alleged case of child trafficking and abuse that Morales says is unfounded.
Extraordinary OAS meeting
Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Paz Ide also told the OAS that in recent weeks there have been road blockades at 60 points on the national network that have affected supplies of fuel, food, medicines, and medical oxygen and put hospital operations at risk.
U.S. Ambassador Leandro Rizzuto accused MAS of being responsible for the economic crisis Bolivia is facing and said President Paz must deal with “the poor management” he inherited from the previous government. “The United States condemns any attempt to undermine Bolivia’s democratic process through violence or intimidation,” Rizzuto warned.
OAS Secretary General Albert Ramdin and the majority of countries emphasized the need to respect democratic institutions and find a negotiated solution to the crisis. Ramdin said Bolivia is going through “very difficult moments in which political challenges, institutional pressure, and a severe economic crisis converge” and that no government should face that alone without the support of the international community.
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