CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Rebellion From Below Threatens Overthrow of Bolivia’s New Rightwing Government

Image by Getty and Unsplash .

As of June 1, 2026, Bolivian Indigenous and working people had been massively protesting for more than two months against repressive measures imposed by the government of conservative President Rodrigo Paz, in office since November 8, 2025.

Bolivia’s Parliament eliminated taxation of the very wealthy. Paz’s Decree 5503, issued in December, ended longstanding fuel subsidies and instituted privatization measures. Subsequently, fuel prices skyrocketed. Poor-quality fuel damaged cars and trucks.

His government enacted Law 1720 in April; it allowed small farmers’ land holdings to qualify as collateral for bank loans. Bankers and wealthy landowners would consequently be able to absorb small bits of land into larger tracts to further mining and industrial-scale agriculture. Small farmers would lose protections for land ownership established by land-reform legislation in 1953.

A firestorm of opposition emerged. On April 8, Indigenous peoples in Pando and Beni Departments, in the Amazonian lowlands, began a 600-mile march to Bolivia’s capitol, La Paz. Already, the country’s major labor federation, the Bolivian Workers’ Central (COB in its Spanish initials) was demanding higher salaries, better pensions, lower gasoline prices, and limits put on privatization – and that President Paz resign.

Together, the Indigenous marchers and COB protesters assembled in La Paz on May 4. The COM represents powerful miners’ unions and unions representing rural teachers, healthcare employees, transportation workers, and farmers. Some 70 unions were on hand. The alliance between the FSTMB, a federation of mine workers’ unions, and the CSUTCB, a federation of small farmers’ unions, was emblematic of renewed unity.

Highway blockades appeared in La Paz and nearby El Alto and extended along highways connecting La Paz with Oruro in the Amazonian North. As of May 29, 100 points of blockade were active in six departments. Now essential goods are not arriving in peripheral areas. This is a general strike.

The government mobilized 3500 troops and police to create a “humanitarian corridor” through roadblocks in La Paz, El Alto and along the highway heading north. They arrested hundreds of protesters, wounded many and killed four – and failed. Officials........

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