Bolivia Security Forces Clash With Morales Protesters, Making 90 Arrests as Shortages Deepen
Updated
Updated · Al Jazeera English · May 18
Bolivia Security Forces Clash With Morales Protesters, Making 90 Arrests as Shortages Deepen
11 articles · Updated · Al Jazeera English · May 18
Thousands of Evo Morales supporters reached La Paz after a six-day march and were met by riot police, who fired tear gas as protesters hurled dynamite and slingshots while demanding President Rodrigo Paz resign.
At least 90 arrests had been reported by Monday after police and military moved over the weekend to break road blockades that have lasted 16 days and left an unspecified number injured.
Those blockades have stranded thousands of trucks on key highways, worsening shortages of food, fuel and medical supplies in La Paz and other cities during Bolivia’s worst economic crisis in 40 years.
Rodrigo Paz, six months into office, has already cut deals with striking miners and teachers, but still faces Morales-linked groups that the government says are trying to destabilize his administration.
Argentina is starting a weeklong humanitarian airlift at Paz’s request, while eight Latin American governments and the U.S. backed his efforts to restore order.
Is Bolivia trapped in an inescapable cycle of economic crisis and popular unrest, regardless of who is in power?
With its economy collapsing, can Bolivia's new government survive the backlash against its bitter economic medicine?