By · May 26, 2026 · Americas Breaking News
Thousands of miners, teachers, farmers, and Indigenous demonstrators mass outside Bolivia’s presidential palace demanding President Rodrigo Paz’s resignation — a second consecutive day of confrontation as the capital descends into de facto siege.
LA PAZ — For the second day running, thousands of anti-government demonstrators converged on the perimeter of Bolivia’s presidential palace Monday as mass protests against President Rodrigo Paz entered their third consecutive week with no end in sight. The capital has been effectively sealed off from food, fuel, and medical supplies by a network of road blockades that the government has been unable to break.
The Bolivian Workers’ Center (COB), miners’ unions, peasant organizations, and Indigenous groups — brought together under the loose banner of a united opposition — have shut down more than 3,500 road points across the country. According to business groups, the blockades are costing the economy more than $50 million per day. Around 5,000 trucks remain stranded on highways. Schools have closed. Public transport has halted in parts of La Paz.
⚠ developing: Paz has not ruled out declaring a state of emergency. The armed forces have been deployed to clear humanitarian corridors but have so far been unable to break the siege.
Origins of the Crisis
The immediate trigger was Law 1720, passed in April, which allowed small agricultural land to be used as collateral for bank loans — critics said it opened the door to seizure of farmers’ property. Paz repealed the law on May 13 after massive backlash. But the protests had already metastasized beyond it.
Underlying the unrest is an economic crisis that analysts describe as the worst Bolivia has faced in four decades: fuel shortages, dollar scarcity, inflation running near 20%, and a widening fiscal gap. Paz, a business-friendly centrist who won office in October 2025 campaigning on reform promises, inherited the mess — but demonstrators blame him for failing to fix it fast enough.
Morales Returns to the Streets
Former president Evo Morales — who ruled Bolivia from 2006 to 2019 and remains a powerful mobilizing force in rural areas despite an outstanding arrest warrant — led a 190-kilometre march into La Paz on May 19. He has called publicly for Paz’s resignation and new elections. Morales denies sexual abuse allegations that he says are politically motivated, and has been operating from a stronghold in Bolivia’s highlands for the past 18 months.
“As long as structural demands — fuel, food, inflation — remain unaddressed, the uprising will not be quelled,” Morales wrote on social media. The government has accused Morales of orchestrating the protests, though analysts are divided on how much control he genuinely exerts over the disparate groups now in the streets.
Human Cost and Humanitarian Alarm
Four people have been killed since protests escalated in early May, according to the Bolivian public prosecutor. Three of those deaths occurred after emergency vehicles were blocked from reaching hospitals besieged by demonstrators — the hospitals themselves ran out of oxygen supplies as supply convoys could not get through. Ninety people have been arrested since May 18.
On May 23, Public Works Minister Mauricio Zamora was ambushed by protesters while overseeing a convoy clearance operation in Copata. He was rescued later the same day. The following day, blockades spread to El Alto, the city adjacent to La Paz that sits at a higher elevation and serves as the main approach to the capital’s airport.
International Response
The U.S. Embassy in La Paz has warned Americans against inter-city road travel. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau described the protests as a “coup attempt” and expressed solidarity with Paz by phone. Argentina and Chile have signaled support for the Paz government. Paz has convened emergency cabinet meetings but so far has refused to grant the protesters’ core demand for his resignation, saying only that his government is “open to dialogue.”
The International Monetary Fund has declined to comment publicly, but analysts say a default on Bolivia’s obligations cannot be ruled out if the blockade continues much longer.
What Happens Next
Paz faces an increasingly impossible arithmetic. Declaring a state of emergency risks provoking the military into action against civilians — something Petro’s experience in Colombia shows is not without political cost. Not declaring one means watching the capital slowly suffocate. With no legislative majority and no unified party machine behind him, Paz’s options are narrowing by the hour. Morales and his coalition show no sign of relenting.
