After 47 days of mass protests and road blockades around the country, which have caused immense economic dislocation, there is now significant pressure placed on the Bolivian Trade Union Confederation (COB), which has been leading the protests along with the Tupac Katari peasant organization linked to former President Evo Morales, to end the blockades and start a dialogue with President Rodrigo Paz. Already, six COB departmental affiliates have told COB secretary general Mario Argollo that the confrontation policy hasn’t worked and it’s time to start dialogue. The COB leadership has twice agreed to hold a national meeting to discuss dialogue but cancelled both times. Other labor groups have independently agreed to a negotiated settlement. But backers of Evo Morales are pressuring the COB to continue with the road blockades.
From the Tropic of Cochabamba, Morales and the coca growers’ organization loyal to him, plus the above-mentioned Tupac Katari group from La Paz, have announced that they will intensify the road blockades and protests and continue until Rodrigo Paz resigns. Paz is about to sign an agreement with the IMF which will remove the long-held currency peg to the dollar and introduce a floating exchange rate that will only worsen the domestic economy. He has promised to be more responsive to the population’s needs, vowed not to privatize state companies, and to recruit cabinet members more sensitive to popular demands. But none of this is included in London’s or Wall Street’s agenda. Paz has said he wants to hold off on declaring a state of emergency to deal with the crisis, but a retired high-level military contact in Bolivia told EIR that the armed forces don’t even have the logistical capability to deploy under such conditions, lacking personnel, vehicles, and fuel.
As it stands today, the situation is untenable. People are exhausted from the protests and blockades, the economic toll of which is unsustainable. Hospitals in several cities are short of oxygen and medicine and have to rely on humanitarian aid flown into those cities. The Agriculture Chamber of Cochabamba reports “incalculable losses,” as road blockades have made it impossible to get products to market, compounded by a lack of fuel and crucial inputs, Los Tiempos reported. Dairy producers have drastically reduced milk production. In La Paz, episodes of conflict are occurring between angry citizens and protesters defending the blockades.
