The government was trying to silence them through arrests and legal proceedings.
Seis meses após assumir o poder, o presidente boliviano Rodrigo Paz enfrenta uma crise de legitimidade que paralisa estradas, esvazia mercados e cobra vidas. O que começou como resistência a cortes de subsídios e uma lei agrária controversa transformou-se em algo mais profundo: uma coalizão de camponeses, povos indígenas, mineiros e trabalhadores que questiona não apenas políticas específicas, mas o próprio direito de um governo de governar. A revogação da lei de terras não apaziguou as ruas — ao contrário, sinalizou que a pressão popular pode mover montanhas, e as montanhas continuam a ser pressionadas.
- Vinte e três rodovias bloqueadas em todo o país, treze delas ao redor de La Paz, estrangulam o abastecimento de alimentos, combustível e bens essenciais na capital.
- A violência do fim de semana em El Alto deixou um saldo brutal: dois manifestantes mortos, cinco feridos e quarenta e sete presos durante repressão policial e militar.
- Mesmo após Paz revogar a polêmica lei agrária, os protestos se aprofundaram e se ampliaram, revelando que a crise vai muito além de uma única medida.
- O governo acusa grupos ligados ao ex-presidente Evo Morales de usar armas e dinamite; Morales nega envolvimento e condena o que chama de criminalização dos manifestantes.
- Organizações camponesas, a maior central sindical do país e comunidades indígenas convergem em torno de uma exigência comum: a renúncia do presidente.
- Grupos de manifestantes se concentram nos arredores de La Paz com expectativa de marchar em direção ao palácio presidencial, mantendo o país em impasse.
Na segunda-feira, a Bolívia acordou paralisada. Manifestantes ergueram barricadas em vinte e três rodovias, treze delas nos arredores de La Paz, bloqueando rotas para Oruro, Potosí, Santa Cruz e Cochabamba. Os mercados da capital começaram a sentir a falta de alimentos, combustível e produtos básicos enquanto as cadeias de abastecimento colapsavam.
A crise tem raízes nos primeiros meses do governo Paz, empossado em dezembro após quase duas décadas de governos de esquerda. O corte de subsídios ao combustível por decreto executivo acendeu a primeira faísca. Semanas depois, uma lei de reforma agrária vista por camponeses e povos indígenas como instrumento de expropriação em favor de grandes corporações agrícolas transformou a insatisfação em mobilização massiva. Quando Paz revogou a lei na semana anterior, sob pressão crescente, os protestos não arrefeceram — ao contrário, se expandiram, incorporando mineiros, professores e trabalhadores que enxergavam na crise algo maior do que uma disputa pontual de política pública.
No fim de semana, a repressão em El Alto deixou dois manifestantes mortos, cinco feridos e quarenta e sete presos. A Defensoria Pública documentou os confrontos e registrou também ataques a jornalistas. A Confederação Nacional de Mulheres 'Bartolina Sisa', uma das organizações camponesas mais influentes do país, convocou todas as bases para as marchas e acusou o governo de exercer violência criminosa contra a população.
O governo respondeu com suas próprias acusações, afirmando que grupos ligados ao ex-presidente Evo Morales estavam usando armas de fogo e dinamite. Morales negou qualquer responsabilidade pelas mobilizações e criticou o que chamou de criminalização dos protestos, comparando a repressão ao legado da Operação Condor. A Central Operária Boliviana, maior federação sindical do país, denunciou a prisão de lideranças e convocou a população a permanecer nas ruas.
Ao longo da segunda-feira, grupos de manifestantes se concentravam nos arredores de La Paz com a expectativa de marchar em direção à sede do governo. O país permanecia suspenso num impasse entre um governo de apenas seis meses e uma coalizão de movimentos que havia concluído não poder mais ser governada por ele.
Bolivia ground to a halt on Monday as demonstrators threw up barricades across twenty-three highways, their anger trained on President Rodrigo Paz, who had been in office for barely half a year. The Bolivian Road Administration counted thirteen of those blockades in the immediate vicinity of La Paz alone, with others stretching toward Oruro, Potosí, Santa Cruz, and Cochabamba. The effect was immediate and tangible: markets in the capital began running short of food, fuel, and basic goods as supply lines seized up.
The unrest had been building since Paz took power in December, following nearly two decades of leftist rule. His first major move—slashing fuel subsidies through executive decree—sparked the initial wave of discontent. But the real catalyst came weeks later when his government passed a land reform law that peasants and indigenous groups saw as a direct threat to small farmers, designed to benefit large agricultural corporations instead. The government framed it differently, arguing the law would strengthen farming in a country gripped by economic crisis. The distinction mattered little to those in the streets. When Paz revoked the law the previous week under mounting pressure, the protests did not ease. If anything, they deepened and broadened, drawing in campesinos, indigenous communities, miners, teachers, and other sectors who saw in the crisis something larger than a single policy.
By the weekend, the confrontations had turned violent. Police moved against demonstrations in El Alto, the sprawling city in La Paz's metropolitan region, and the toll was stark: forty-seven people arrested, five wounded, and peasant groups reporting at least two dead. The Public Defender's office documented the clashes. Pedro Callisaya, the public defender, noted that beyond the direct violence, there had been attacks on journalists and their work, as well as street-level conflicts between protesters and residents at various blockade points.
The Confederación Nacional de Mujeres "Bartolina Sisa," one of the country's most influential peasant organizations, issued a call on Friday for all local groups to join the marches and blockades. In a statement released Sunday, the confederation accused the government of violent and criminal intervention, leaving behind dead, wounded, and detained people as a result of police and military brutality. They charged that Paz governed only for a privileged sector, forgetting the majority, and that his decrees and laws—which they called unconstitutional—aimed to seize peasant lands and hand them to large landowners.
The government struck back with its own accusations. Presidential spokesman José Luis Gálvez released a statement claiming that protest groups, particularly those linked to former president Evo Morales, were using firearms and dynamite. A video circulated purporting to show members of the Ponchos Vermelhos, a peasant group, armed with rifles on a highway, shouting slogans of defiance. Gálvez warned that anyone carrying weapons or explosives would face arrest.
Moreales himself rejected the blame. He responded on social media that the protests belonged to the Bolivian people, not to him. He condemned the government for deploying the armed forces against civilians and criticized the criminalization of marches, arguing that the government was labeling protesters as conspirators, terrorists, and drug traffickers while ignoring its own history of repression and what he called the legacy of Operation Condor.
Meanwhile, the Central Operária Boliviana, the country's largest labor federation, denounced the arrest of protest leaders and called on the population to remain in the streets. Mario Argollo, the federation's executive secretary, declared on social media that they would not be bent by the struggle, and that the government was trying to silence them through arrests and legal proceedings.
As Monday wore on, groups of protesters gathered around La Paz with expectations of marching toward the city center, where the presidential seat stands. The country remained locked in a standoff between a government six months old and a coalition of movements that had concluded it could no longer govern.
Notable Quotes
The government intervened violently and criminally in the people's mobilization, leaving dead, wounded, and detained as a result of police and military brutality.— Confederación Nacional de Mujeres "Bartolina Sisa" (peasant organization)
We will not be bent by the struggle; the government is trying to silence us through arrests and legal proceedings.— Mario Argollo, executive secretary of the Central Operária Boliviana (labor federation)
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did it take a land law to turn scattered anger into something this organized?
The fuel subsidy cut in December was the spark, but it hit everyone differently. The land law felt like a direct threat to survival—to who owns what, who can farm, who gets to stay. That's when the peasants, indigenous groups, and miners realized they were all facing the same enemy.
And Paz revoked the law. Shouldn't that have ended it?
By then it was too late. The law was a symptom, not the disease. People had already decided he couldn't be trusted. Revoking it looked like panic, not leadership.
The government is showing videos of armed protesters. Is that real?
There are weapons visible in some footage. But the government is using that to reframe the entire movement as violent and criminal, when most of the blockades are just people standing in the road. It's a way to justify the police response.
What does Evo Morales actually want here?
He's denying involvement, but he's also defending the protesters. He's saying the government is using the military against civilians, which is what happened to him. He's not leading this—the peasants and workers are—but he's giving it political cover.
Can Paz survive this?
Not if the blockades hold and the coalition stays unified. He has the police and military, but they can't run a country. Eventually something breaks—either the government backs down or the repression escalates into something worse.