Rodrigo Paz declares State of Emergency in Bolivia
- BBC News Mundo
- 8 minutes ago
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Rodrigo Paz declares a state of emergency in Bolivia "to clear the country's highways"
June 20, 2026
By BBC News Mundo*
*With information from Cecilia Barría, Ayelén Oliva, and Gerardo Lissardy.
After stating that he had exhausted “all avenues for dialogue,” Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz announced on Saturday that a state of emergency had been declared in the South American nation, which has been mired in a crisis of protests and roadblocks for more than 50 days.
“This is not a state of emergency intended to restrict people’s lives. It is exactly the opposite. It is a state of emergency to restore their freedom,” the president said in a televised address.
The protests, which have lasted more than 50 days, have disrupted the supply of food, medical supplies, fuel, and other basic goods in several regions of the country.
“I have ordered the implementation of a state of emergency to clear the country’s roads,” the president wrote on social media platform X.
“Bolivians cannot continue to be held hostage by roadblocks that prevent them from working, studying, receiving medical care, stocking up on supplies, and providing for their families,” he added.
The center-right president took office in November, following two decades of governments led by the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS).
Since early May, indigenous organizations, workers, farmers, and transport workers have been demanding a solution to the deep economic crisis the country is facing, as well as a change in political direction.
“This state of emergency is being declared to protect democracy and life; it is being declared to protect Bolivia,” Paz said in his address.
“To those who are still maintaining blockades, I say this clearly: there is still time for you to voluntarily back down. If you have legitimate demands, the doors to dialogue will remain open,” he warned.
"roundtable discussions"
The decree declares a state of emergency due to “internal unrest” throughout the country for a period that could be extended to 90 days.
According to the document, “reports issued by the Ministry of the Interior conclude that there is evidence of a serious, extraordinary, and objective disruption of public safety.”
In his televised address, the president stated that his government had opened “dialogue forums” in search of solutions to the situation facing the country.
“For weeks, we have been listening to demands that for years no one wanted to hear. For 50 days, we have not stopped engaging in dialogue for a single day,” he said.
“We have reached important agreements with most of the sectors that had legitimate demands,” he added.
And he assured that “we continue to work with the Bolivian Workers’ Confederation (COB) and numerous social organizations.”
The president made the speech after signing an agreement with the COB on Friday, which aims to restore peace to the country and bring the country’s main routes back to normal.
However, the Túpac Katari Peasants’ Federation of La Paz, which has a strong presence in La Paz, said on Friday that it would continue its protests and that roadblocks would be expanded, according to the Bolivian newspaper La Razón.
According to the organization’s leader, Vicente Salazar, as quoted by La Razón, the protest is a response to demands related to the protection of natural resources and respect for the rights of indigenous peoples.
That group was not the only one to reject the agreement. According to the EFE news agency, supporters of former President Evo Morales were also opposed to the pact.
Morales governed Bolivia for nearly 14 consecutive years, from 2006 to 2019 (with two re-elections in between), and is currently a fugitive from justice in connection with a case involving the alleged trafficking of a minor—a charge he denies.
Morales described the protests as a “popular uprising” and called for new elections.
"an attempted coup"
On Saturday, President Paz denounced that his government is facing “an organized strategy of destabilization against democracy and a constitutionally established government.”
He compared the situation to “an attempted coup d'état by narco-terrorists against a democratically elected government.”
Peasant and labor groups have become the government’s most vocal critics and have been blocking roads and clashing with police for weeks to demand President Paz’s resignation.
They have been joined by Morales’s supporters.
The government, for its part, claims that Morales is behind the unrest and is the one instigating the anti-democratic agitation—a charge the former president denies.
“He is a man who has been corrupted by power and will do everything in his power—regardless of the death toll, regardless of the confrontation, regardless of the destruction of Bolivia—to overthrow this democratic process,” Paz said of Morales in a May interview with the Argentine newspaper Clarín.
in addition to the state of emergency
The protests began in late April, following President Paz’s announcement of an agrarian reform aimed at transforming small rural properties into medium-sized ones.
However, various peasant groups viewed the measure as an attempt to promote the sale of agricultural land to benefit large landowners.
Added to this were protests over wage demands by teachers and other groups, as well as concerns about the quality of fuel that has been made available for sale in an effort to reduce costs.
In his speech on Saturday, Paz announced the creation of a commission for the provinces of the department of La Paz, which will help implement the agreements that, he says, have been reached.
“It will be a special commission for the provinces of the department of La Paz, which have historically been neglected and mistreated,” he said.
Another measure he announced was “a call for a broad national agreement that will bring together political leaders, governors, mayors, universities, productive sectors, workers, and social organizations.”
The decree urges all individuals and legal entities to refrain, during the state of emergency, from “impeding, obstructing, or affecting the transportation, distribution, and sale of food, fuel, medicines, medical supplies, and other goods essential to the population.”
Likewise, it calls for respect for the “free movement of ambulances, emergency vehicles, and vehicles transporting food, fuel, medicines, and other essential services.”
The declaration of a state of emergency, the decree states, “shall in no case suspend the guarantees of rights, nor fundamental rights, the right to due process, the right to information, or the rights of persons deprived of liberty.”
supplies
In late May, Luis Larrea, president of the La Paz Departmental Medical Association, spoke with BBC Mundo about the impact of the protests and roadblocks in Bolivia, one month after they began.
“I feel helpless in the face of what's happening; we don't know what to do,” he said.
“We're running out of oxygen; we have newborn patients, intubated patients, and elderly people who could die,” Larrea said from La Paz.
The doctor then confirmed that there had been four deaths of patients who were unable to reach hospitals in time to receive emergency care.
“They died inside ambulances because they weren’t allowed to pass through to the health centers,” he said.
On May 28, hundreds of healthcare workers took to the streets to march, calling on protesters to observe a “humanitarian pause” so that trucks stranded on the highways could pass.
“Oxygen and food for the patients!” they chanted as they walked down the street carrying banners.
This article has been adapted from the original in Spanish.
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