LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Hoarse with chants and blistered feet from a week of walking along a national highway, protesters streamed into Bolivia’s capital.
Hordes of street vendors, the South American country’s vast informal workforce, completed a 100-kilometer (60-mile) march from Bolivia’s mountainous plains to chant in a cry evoking years of anger over the country’s dangerously depleting foreign-currency reserves: “We want dollars!”
Protests have intensified in Bolivia over signs of the continent’s sharpest economic decline, amid soaring prices, dollar shortages and long lines at fuel-starved gas stations. The fastest growing 20 years ago Most at risk today.
“We can change this country because we are the engines of production,” Roberto Rios Ibáñez, secretary general of the Bolivian Traders’ Confederation, said as exhausted protesters took a lunch break in the center of the capital, gridlocked by traffic. “The government doesn’t listen, that’s why we are in the streets.”
FILE – Merchants shout slogans during an anti-government demonstration against banks’ shortage of U.S. dollars, in La Paz, Bolivia, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)
Bolivia’s financial difficulties are due, at least in part, to unprecedented rifts at the highest levels of the ruling party.
President Luis Arce And a former ally, Leftist icon and former president Evo Moralesare fighting for the future of Bolivia’s splintered Movement for Socialism (MAS, by its Spanish acronym) ahead of 2025 elections.
Political fighting has paralyzed government efforts to tackle a deepening economic crisis, analysts say. Social anxiety That could explode in a historically turbulent country of 12 million people.
Rifts within the ruling party Opening in 2019Morales was Bolivia’s first indigenous president. He ran for an unconstitutional third term.He won an election marred by allegations of fraud. spark massive protests The attack left 36 people dead and forced President Morales to resign and flee the country.
after that A provisional government took power At M.A.S. It’s called a coupMorales’ handpicked successor is Arce. won the election He has campaigned on a promise to restore prosperity to Bolivia, once Latin America’s main supplier of natural gas.
As finance minister in Morales’ government, Arce oversaw years of strong growth and low inflation, but faced a tough economic situation when he took office in 2020. Reflections from the coronavirus pandemicThe decline in gas production has brought an end to Bolivia’s budget-busting economic model.
It remains hugely popular among Bolivia’s indigenous communities. Coca Growers Morales saw an opportunity for unionized workers. After returning from exileThe charismatic populist announced plans last year to run in the 2025 elections, putting him at odds with President Arce, who is expected to seek reelection.
“Bolivia has an indigenous majority, and people will instinctively support someone like Morales based on what he represents,” said Diego Font Bacano, an expert on Bolivian politics at Texas A&M University and a former informal adviser to President Arce. “Now they have a boost in the form of the failure of the Arce government.”
Earlier this month, Morales rallied tens of thousands of supporters in Cochabamba, southeast of La Paz, galvanizing his rural base.
“We won the election and we will save Bolivia,” the victorious President Morales roared to a stadium packed with cheering supporters waving “wiphala,” the brightly colored checkered flag representing Bolivia’s many ethnic groups.
FILE – Supporters of Bolivian President Luis Arce wave Wiphala flags during an event marking the 29th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) party in La Paz, Bolivia, March 28, 2024. (Associated Press/Juan Calita, File)
Arce is challenging the legitimacy of Morales’ campaign, saying a 2023 Constitutional Court ruling bars him from running.
Legal experts say it’s not that clear-cut.
“we The politicians “The government is manipulating the courts, giving them the power to decide political questions that have profound effects on the constitution,” said Eduardo Rodriguez Bertse, a Bolivian judge who served as president from 2005 to 2006.
“We followed the rules,” Morales declared in his speech, and warned of mass unrest if he was disqualified from running.
Meanwhile, with a cash shortage leaving them unable to obtain dollars to pay overseas suppliers, Bolivian merchants are clamoring to buy US dollars at inflated prices in neighboring countries, creating bizarre scenes at the country’s borders with Brazil and Peru.
Money exchange in La Paz It dried up last yearBolivians queued overnight outside the central bank to get foreign currency.
This is in contrast to Bolivia’s booming economy in the early 21st century, when the Morales government was fueled by a surge in export revenues. Reduced poverty rate The population grew to 15%, the middle class expanded, and vast cities and roads were built.
The problems began in 2014, when commodity prices plummeted and the government began dipping into its foreign-currency reserves to keep up with spending. It then began drawing down its gold reserves and selling dollar-denominated government bonds domestically.
“They’ve used up their savings and now they’re running out of money,” said Gonzalo Chavez, an economics professor at Bolivia’s Catholic University.
FILE – Pedestrians walk in front of a money exchange office in La Paz, Bolivia, June 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)
To quell public discontent, the government is spending $2 billion a year to import highly subsidized gasoline, further tightening the fiscal squeeze. Ratings agency Fitch downgraded Bolivia’s debt into junk bond territory in February, giving it a CCC rating.
The fight over MAS is heating up Economic hardship.
Morales’ allies in the Bolivian Congress have consistently blocked Arce’s attempts to borrow money to relieve pressure. Bolivia is a lithium treasure troveBut lawmakers will not give President Arce the approval to allow foreign companies to mine the area.
President Arce claims the unrest is an “economic boycott” aimed at toppling his presidency.
Seeking to soothe investor fears, Montenegro’s Finance Minister Marcelo has denied any crisis, but long lines of frustrated motorists outside gas stations suggest otherwise. Angry truckers have been blocking roads and burning tyres in recent days.
“President Arce has abandoned the economy while dismantling our social fabric,” said Jorge Cucho, an indigenous leader and activist. “Prices have risen by 70 percent. Our salaries are no longer marketable.”
Tensions at MAS are torn in Bolivia Opposition It’s Morales’ first chance to take power since he won an unprecedented electoral majority in 2005. Centrist and conservative politicians have entered the fray, but the opposition is fragmented and its legitimacy is in doubt, with dozens of opposition lawmakers running for office. Imprisoned politicians.
FILE – Senator Simona Quispe, center, of the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) party, attends a meeting of lawmakers with former President Evo Morales in La Paz, Bolivia, March 5, 2024. (Associated Press/Juan Calita, File)
“The division has given the opposition much more opportunities,” said Fernando Mayorga, a sociologist at the public university in Cochabamba, Bolivia. “So far, we’re not seeing any signs of the opposition taking action.”
Bolivians, outraged by President Morales and disappointed by President Arce, say the country is at a dangerous crossroads.
“The people are sleeping,” said Ibáñez, the labor leader. “They will start rising up soon.”
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Debre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
