Chaos as protesters, police clash in Bolivian capital
Explosions were heard during violent clashes in La Paz, Bolivia, as mining groups took to the streets to demand the resignation of centrist President Rodrigo Paz.
Demonstrators confronted police on Thursday as they tried to enter Plaza Murillo, the city’s central square, by throwing what appeared to be sticks of dynamite, according to a Reuters witness.
Local miners are demanding greater access to explosives and fuel, as well as revisions to contracts and enforcement of mining regulations. Miners, farmers and other union-affiliated groups are demonstrating as the country’s economic and fuel crisis worsens due to a shortage of US dollars and a decline in domestic energy production.
Some demonstrators demanded the president’s resignation just six months after his inauguration. Centrist Paz won a landslide election victory in 2025 by promising market-friendly reforms that would lift the country out of its worst economic crisis in a generation.
Authorities said they negotiated with protesters on issues ranging from fuel subsidies and social welfare benefits to a revised agricultural reform law known as Bill 1720, which was repealed Wednesday after a backlash from Indigenous and rural organizations.
Shortly before Thursday’s clashes, a delegation of about 20 miners entered the presidential palace in the main square to meet with the president, who brought together several ministers for urgent talks on the miners’ demands, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Bolivian Economy Minister Jose Gabriel Espinoza said the government was “open to dialogue” as he entered the presidential palace.
According to the news of Reuters TV, which witnessed thousands of trucks stranded on the highways, barricades have been set up in recent days as part of the protests, and this has led to a shortage of food, medical supplies and oxygen in hospitals.
Government officials blamed the opposition and former leftist President Evo Morales for fueling the demonstrations.
Morales, who was arrested in contempt last week for failing to appear in court in a smuggling case, supported the protesters on Thursday, saying “the uprising cannot be stopped unless structural demands such as fuel, food and inflation are addressed.”
Paz’s election ended two decades of leftist rule in the country.
