The socialist coalition has blockaded key roads in and around La Paz, refusing even to let emergency vehicles pass. The government claimed that at least three people have died after the blockade prevented emergency vehicles from reaching hospitals, denying patients critical care. Supplies at hospitals themselves have likewise dwindled, with oxygen supplies critically low.

Many of the strikers have gathered weapons and organized into de facto militias. Rioters have clashed with police in La Paz and elsewhere across the country.

Paz has already faced strikes and protests in his short tenure, but the nationwide revolt is the largest and most significant crisis he’s faced.

Washington takes a stand

Washington has weighed in on the crisis, openly voicing its support for Paz against the anti-government forces and rallying Latin American support for him.

“Let there be no mistake: those who lost overwhelmingly at the ballot box in Bolivia last year are trying to overthrow President [Paz] by organizing RIOTS and BLOCKADES with the support of organized crime and drug traffickers,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said in a post on X. 

“I spoke with my friend President Paz this afternoon, and assured him that the United States stands squarely in support of Bolivia’s legitimate constitutional government and rejects this attempt to substitute the institutional order with mob rule,” he added.

Landau further voiced his concerns on Wednesday at a talk organized by the Council of the Americas in Washington, D.C.

“I mean, it cannot be that you have a democratic process where [Paz] was elected overwhelmingly by the ‌Bolivian ⁠people less than a year ago and now you have violent demonstrators blockading the streets,” he said.

“I would hate ⁠to ​see this very promising opening ​go down the drain,” Landau added, saying it was bad for the whole region to see “this kind of incivility.”

The deputy secretary of state’s comments about a domestic political dispute are notable, as Washington has traditionally voiced its public neutrality in domestic political matters in Latin America. His open support for Paz reflects the Trump administration’s new stance toward Latin America, favoring a more hands-on approach to an area the administration views as the U.S.’s backyard.

Washington’s interest in Bolivia is particularly notable due to the country’s vast natural resources — the Andean nation boasts the largest reserves of lithium in the world, a key material in producing electric vehicles. After years of shifting toward China under the prior socialist government, giving Beijing preferential access to its critical lithium, Paz has shifted back toward the U.S. The risk of losing access to the critical resource may push Washington to take a further hands-on approach.

A test for the Shield of the Americas

Bolivia is one of the 18 countries part of Trump’s hemisphere-wide effort to form an alliance of like-minded nations, the Shield of the Americas, composed of right-wing or right-of-center governments. The alliance is intended to provide support for right-wing governments throughout the continent, especially regarding matters of illegal immigration, organized crime, and terrorism.

Given that the alliance was just formed in March, Bolivia may serve as the first major testing ground for the group. 

Much of Latin America has thrown its support behind Paz, but the deputy secretary of state singled out Argentine President Javier Milei for his support. Milei’s support was also singled out by Paz in a post on X, expressing his “deepest gratitude” to the Argentine president for his “invaluable support,” specifically for his dispatch of C-130 transport aircraft to deliver humanitarian supplies to blockaded areas.

“This gesture of solidarity not only strengthens the historic bonds of brotherhood between our nations but also represents vital relief for our communities in times of great need. We deeply value the Republic of Argentina’s willingness to collaborate in protecting the lives and well-being of our people,” Paz said.

Milei responded by expressing that “Argentina stands with the Bolivian people and supports the democratically elected authorities in the face of those seeking to destabilize and obstruct the path to freedom and progress.”

The blaring exception in the region is Colombia, run by the left-wing President Gustavo Petro. Petro has openly voiced his support for the anti-government forces, a stance that risks sinking his recent detente with Trump.

“Always stand by the side of the people. Bolivia places itself at the forefront of the struggle for Latin American dignity,” Petro said in Spanish in one X post, while reposting another demanding the resignation of the “puppet” Paz.

In perhaps his most inflammatory remarks, Petro compared Milei to Adolf Hitler and Paz to Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.

“Milei’s collaboration with the repression of the people of Bolivia is similar to when Hitler helped Franco with German Nazi bombings,” he said.

A long time coming

Bolivia is struggling through its worst economic crisis in decades. Fiscal deficits are over 10% of GDP, inflation has skyrocketed, its foreign currency reserves are gone, fuel shortages have become chronic, growth has halted, and the fixed exchange rate for the Bolivian Boliviano, the country’s currency, has collapsed. However, the crisis is largely homegrown. 

An analysis from Harvard University’s Growth Lab placed the blame squarely on mismanagement from Morales’s socialist government. The nationalization and heavy taxation of the natural gas industry cut off new private investment, helping to cut gas production by over half since its peak in 2014. The government kept spending at levels consistent with the peak of gas production, largely focused on unsustainable fuel and wage subsidies. Morales and his successor blitzed through government savings and kept finances afloat through “financial repression,” the bill for which is now being footed by Paz’s government.

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Paz has sought to ease Bolivia back into a market economy through gradual reforms, offsetting the end of fuel subsidies with measures such as raising the minimum wage to protect lower-income Bolivians. Despite these efforts, left-wing trade unions have refused any compromise, demanding the reinstatement of unsustainable subsidies.

The implacability of the trade unions in the face of economic ruin has led to widespread criticism, with many blaming the shadow influence of Morales. Some suspect that the former president, in the face of arrest and political oblivion, has resorted to sowing chaos as a final resort to evade justice.