Bolivia Declares Emergency After 50 Days of Blockades and 14 Deaths

Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz declared a state of emergency on Saturday, after 50 days of protest blockades.

Protests have left at least 14 people dead and choked off supplies of food, fuel and medicine to the country's administrative capital La Paz and the neighboring city of El Alto.

The declaration enables wider military deployment and clears the way for security forces to begin physically removing roadblocks that have paralyzed Bolivia's economy and severed key supply routes.

"There comes a moment when failing to act ceases to be prudence and becomes irresponsibility. And that moment has arrived," Paz told the nation in an early morning address, warning that those continuing disruptions would face legal consequences.

By Saturday afternoon, police and armed forces had cleared several blockades, with Defense Minister Ernesto Justiniano telling journalists that normality was returning.

How Bolivia Got Here

The crisis traces directly to Paz's decision, taken just months into his presidency, to abruptly cut longstanding fuel subsidies to reduce the deficit amid a worsening dollar crunch and talks with the IMF.

Despite later moves to stabilize fuel prices and reverse unpopular land reforms, protests intensified.

Unions began demanding wage increases, an end to fuel and dollar shortages, and ultimately Paz's resignation.

The blockades, now in their 50th day, are allegedly controlled by rural associations aligned with former leftist President Evo Morales, who governed Bolivia from 2006 to 2019 and built nearly two decades of leftist dominance before being barred from running again.

Morales has backed the protest movement and called for early elections, though he denied to Reuters this week that he instigated the unrest, calling it an "indigenous rebellion" driven by economic hardship.

Paz has directly blamed Morales for stoking the crisis.

Paz came to power after a watershed 2025 election that ended Bolivia's long leftist era.

He topped a first round with 32% of the vote against a fractured field, with the official MAS candidate collapsing to just 3.1% as voters punished nearly two decades of socialist governance that had tied Bolivia closely to Venezuela, Nicaragua, Russia and China while deepening economic dysfunction.

Paz won a runoff in October and was sworn in in November, taking office with the backing of President Donald Trump as part of a broader US strategy to expand influence in the hemisphere.

Emergency Powers, Congressional Pushback

Congress had cleared the way for the emergency declaration in May by repealing a law that had previously limited the executive branch's use of such orders.

Paz must notify Congress within 24 hours, after which lawmakers have up to 72 hours to approve or reject the measure.

The US State Department said Saturday it "strongly supports" Paz's decision "to restore order and ensure the free flow of food, medicine, and essential supplies to the Bolivian people."

Bolivia's mines are operating normally, the mining ministry said.