Bolivian People Stand Strong and Demand President Rodrigo Paz To Resign!

Statement of the ILPS Bolivia Country Chapter – Originally Published May 22, 2026

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle, Chuquisaca Chapter, condemns the advance of neoliberal policies driven by imperialist interests and stands in solidarity with the protests organized by social organizations, trade unions, and grassroots communities.

Since late 2025, Bolivia has been engulfed in one of the most serious political and economic crisis in its modern history. The victory of US-backed, centre-right President Rodrigo Paz Pereira in October 2025 — ending nearly two decades of Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) governance — raised concerns that the economic program of the new government is redirecting towards neoliberal policies. In December 2025, his administration’s decision to eliminate long-standing fuel subsidies through Supreme Decree 5503, dubbed the ‘Gasolinazo,’ doubled fuel prices overnight and ignited a nationwide wave of protests. This was followed by another anti-peasant Law 1720 which opens the door to a major landgrab by the local elite and foreign corporations. The protests, led by miners, teachers, Indigenous communities, and labor unions under the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), have escalated into calls for Paz’s resignation amid fuel shortages, soaring inflation, and economic reforms that serve elite and foreign interests rather than ordinary Bolivians.

As members of the Chuquisaca chapter of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), we declare that Bolivia is at a decisive historical juncture. Allowing the advance of neoliberal policies driven by agro-industrial elites, with a government subservient to imperialist interests and foreign to the people, would mean deepening the economic, social, and political crisis afflicting our country. In light of this situation, we declare: We support the mobilization of social organizations, unions, trade associations, and popular sectors demanding the resignation of President Rodrigo Paz, as the measures taken by the government have systematically harmed the vast majority of the population and, especially, the most impoverished sectors of the country. Since coming to power, the government of Rodrigo Paz—elected with the vote of the popular social bloc under a nationalist and populist platform—has betrayed the people’s expectations by governing in favor of the economic elites. Under the contradictory slogan of “Capitalism for All,” he has imposed anti-people decrees and policies: the lifting of fossil fuel subsidies, a wage freeze, the promotion of privatizations, and the opening of the country to imperialist interference, applying the neoliberal recipe that has caused so much harm to Bolivia and the region.

These measures have further deteriorated the living conditions of working people, who are now taking to the streets. We reject the privatization attempts and the package of laws promoted by the government, as they constitute a violation of the Political Constitution of the State and respond to the impositions of the International Monetary Fund, subjecting the country to usurious loans that jeopardize our sovereignty and condemn the people to greater levels of poverty and dependence. We also denounce the persistent racism expressed in government discourse and amplified by the media apparatus that supports it. A discourse of hate has been deliberately instilled against the mobilized sectors, criminalizing indigenous, peasant, and working-class identities, and promoting division among Bolivians. Acts such as the burning of the Wiphala—a national symbol and historical emblem of the struggle of the indigenous and peasant peoples—demonstrate the elites’ profound contempt for the plurinational character of our State. We denounce the excessive use of violence by police forces and the militarization of repression against the mobilized population. The indiscriminate use of chemical agents and lethal force has resulted in injuries, deaths, and serious collateral damage. Police and military institutions must serve to protect the people, not to persecute and kill them.

Likewise, we denounce the manipulation of the justice system and its subjugation to the executive branch, evidenced by the arrest warrants issued against COB leaders and other social leaders, as well as the mass detention of protesters treated as criminals simply for wearing a poncho or a pollera or for representing the popular and indigenous identity of our country. We support the organization and revolutionary mobilization of the indigenous, worker, and union bloc in defense of our homeland and the interests of the Bolivian people, against those who seek to hand over our natural resources and subject the country to foreign interests. Bolivia’s resources are not for sale. Our dignity, our sovereignty, and the Plurinational State are non-negotiable. We are a country of 36 nations that firmly resists neoliberalism and imperialism; a people who will not kneel or accept becoming lackeys of external powers.

International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) – Bolivia Chapter

Chuquisaca Department Cell