Bolivia protests flare again as miners demand Rodrigo Paz’s exit

Hundreds of workers returned to the streets of La Paz on Thursday, demanding the departure of Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz Pereira. Paz had tried to calm the unrest by appointing a new labour minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle announced the day before.

The protests began three weeks ago, when demonstrators in Bolivia started marching and setting up roadblocks to demand higher wages, stable fuel supplies and measures to ease the worst economic crisis the country has faced in 40 years. The unrest later turned into violent clashes with police and calls for Paz to resign, just six months after he took office, according to Agence France-Presse.

Miners and workers wearing their helmets marched through the country’s administrative capital, which protesters had cut off by blocking the road into it. The disruption has caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine.

Roadblocks spread across seven provinces

Official data showed at least 47 roadblocks on Thursday in 7 of the country’s 9 provinces. On Monday, about 130 people were detained during violent protests in the country, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Labour leader and union figure Cecilio González said: "It imposes on us a neoliberal policy as was the case in the 1980s (...) This government does not have the capacity to govern and is completely at the service of multinational companies."

Cabinet move and conciliatory tone

In an effort to ease the protests, Paz appointed Williams Bascope, a lawyer from an indigenous group, as labour minister, replacing Edgar Morales, who had faced heavy criticism from the labour sector. The government accused the protesters of trying to carry out a "coup".

Paz adopted a conciliatory tone in his first remarks to the press in about a week. He said on Wednesday: "We need to reorganise the cabinet so that it can listen."