Strikes and demonstrations in Bolivia

On 8 November 2025, Rodrigo Paz took office as Bolivia’s president. He was elected as the ‘least worst’ option, but there was nothing to back him up: no political party, no manifesto and no popular support. He very quickly introduced unpopular measures. On 17 December, he announced ‘Supreme Decree’ 5503. The main measure was the abolition of fuel subsidies, which had been in place for twenty years. The decree also granted greater powers to the Central Bank with the aim of securing new lines of international financing, liberalising the energy market, introducing the Fast Track system to facilitate foreign investment… and marking the start of the privatisation of healthcare, education and public services. He also attacked pensions, opened the country up to extractive industries, and so on. All this took place against a backdrop of very high inflation and low wages in an economy where informal work accounts for over 80%.

These new laws place a lighter tax burden on the rich and further impoverish the poor. The announced compensatory measures (the promise of a wage increase of around 20 per cent) fell far short of meeting the population’s needs, all the more so as he refused to withdraw the decree in question. The people suffered a 30 per cent loss in purchasing power.

The government then supplied the people with poor-quality fuel, which caused breakdowns, forcing drivers to pay over $1,000 to repair their vehicles! Not to mention the attempt to repeal Law 1720 with the aim of commercialising the Indigenous Community Lands (TCO), which Bolivian farmers hold dear. It is a historic law that protects these lands. There has also been racism towards the indigenous people on the part of the government. From the very start of the uprising, government forces reacted by mistreating indigenous women and the elderly in particular.

The response from the trade unions and the people was immediate. We witnessed a show of strength from social movements in the plains and the Amazon. Miners from the Bolivian Federation of Mine Workers’ Unions (FSTMB) went on strike on 19 December, demanding the repeal of Decree 5503, which “benefits only a few sectors”, according to Andrés Paye, Executive Secretary of the FSTMB. The FSTMB announced road blockades and brought the matter before the Bolivian Workers’ Confederation (COB). The national strike thus began on 22 December. The COB demanded the complete withdrawal of Decree 5503 and the reinstatement of fuel subsidies. It refused to negotiate as long as the decree remained in force.

Following partial agreements with mining cooperatives (Federación Nacional de Cooperativas Mineras de Bolivia, FENCOMIN) – with the government promising dialogue and making partial concessions to transport organisations on the one hand, and the decision by certain farmers’ organisations to lift some roadblocks to facilitate travel over the festive season on the other – the strike began to lose momentum.

But the Bolivian oligarchy demanded more repression against the people. More recently, the movement has hardened following the declaration of a state of emergency in the country. The population said they were ready to take over barracks and police stations and have already done so in one region. They are using dynamite and various explosives to oppose the police and the military. Truck drivers on an indefinite strike have even attempted to storm the offices of corrupt trade unions, which were protected by the police.

The people must defend themselves against the police, the military and the fascists.

Whilst maintaining or reinforcing roadblocks, they—and particularly the women—are organising food supplies for the population. Women are playing a very important role in this uprising. Following the arrest on 3 June of Justino Apaz, a leader of one of El Alto’s self-organisation committees (Cabildo) and FEJUVE (an organisation comprising nearly 600 neighbourhood councils that provide public services, infrastructure and jobs to the residents of El Alto), and the appointment of a new, more radical Minister of Defence with links to Trump and the far right – and thus faced with the threat of a military coup against the popular uprising, which appears to be taking shape – the women of the  Confederation of Quechua Peasant Women – and many other indigenous communities – have armed themselves with whatever means are at hand (sticks, sharpened stakes, rifles…) and have declared that they are not afraid to die.

For their part, the Association of Mothers of Bolivia, demonstrating en masse in La Paz, has called on their children serving in the army to join the uprising in the event of military intervention.
The “Cabildo” (Council) is gradually taking the lead in the national movement, overtaking the COB. It draws on and reflects the many self-organised committees springing up across the country, particularly around the 90 to 130 roadblocks currently in place.

The International Trade Union Network for Solidarity and Struggles reaffirms its support for the struggle of the people of Bolivia. We are raising awareness of the situation on the ground, the trade union and popular actions being taken, and the repression being used in an attempt to crush the movement. Comrades on the ground are sending us information; the first act of solidarity is to pass this on in each of our countries!