Bolivia: Paz amidst protests, blockades and calls for resignation

Bolivia is experiencing one of the most delicate political crises of recent years. President Rodrigo Paz is caught between social protests, road blocks and growing calls for his resignation which threaten the stability of the government installed on November 8th. The main local media report that the mobilizations were triggered by wage demands from teachers and unions, protests by transporters against the quality of fuel and indigenous protests against agrarian reform.

As the days passed, the tension became more radical. The Túpac Katari Federation initiated "indefinite" blockades on the plateau directly calling for the president's fall, while leaders of the Bolivian Central Workers' Union (Cob) and the Aymara Red Ponch movement joined the protest. In La Paz, violent clashes between miners and police, with the use of dynamite, transformed the center of the capital into a battlefield.

On the political front, the return of supporters of former president Evo Morales who launched a march towards La Paz against the constitutional reform proposed by Paz and to denounce the judicial proceedings against the socialist leader also weighs heavily. The government accuses Morales of fueling a destabilizing plan, but analysts see unresolved historical tensions between indigenous popular movements, urban middle classes and economic elites at the root of the crisis, aggravated by the country's heavy economic crisis.

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