Bolivia Imposes 90-Day Emergency, Deploys Troops Against 40 Roadblocks
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jun 21
Bolivia Imposes 90-Day Emergency, Deploys Troops Against 40 Roadblocks
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 21
Summary
Rodrigo Paz ordered soldiers, armed police and bulldozers into El Alto and La Paz hours after declaring a 90-day state of emergency to break blockades that have choked Bolivia for more than six weeks.
More than 40 major roadblocks still remain despite a deal this week with the Bolivian Workers’ Central, as Indigenous groups and coca farmers continue demanding Paz scrap liberal reforms and resign.
Fuel, food and medicine shortages have hit major cities, and the disruption has cost the economy billions of dollars while threatening Bolivia’s first non-socialist government in two decades.
Paz says the emergency is meant to restore normal life, but the crackdown could widen tensions around Evo Morales’s Chapare stronghold, where authorities have not ruled out an operation to arrest him.