New road blockades in Bolivia as Morales allies threaten mass mobilization

Road blockades are still causing headaches for Bolivian exporters as protests have rocked Cochabamba department in the first weeks of 2024, while supporters of former president Evo Morales are threatening to call nationwide demonstrations amid a dispute surrounding the judiciary.

Morales’ backers had planned to start an indefinite national mobilization on Wednesday to demand the resignation of magistrates who had their mandates extended through a ruling by the constitutional court last month and demand new elections to be called to choose their replacements. 

The court also ruled in December that Morales cannot run in the 2025 presidential elections.

The election for judges was supposed to be held in 2023, but it was halted as congress had not submitted lists of pre-candidates to the electoral court. 

Although the nationwide protest by Morales' supporters was pushed back to next week, players are afraid it could worsen the impact of the blockades on the economy. 

“Everyone knows that the poor performance in 2023 had a lot to do with [the blockades]. GDP growth should have been 4.86% and it's believed that it only reached 2%. Foreign trade became negative again after three years, the country’s exports fell by US$2.5bn up until October, not only because of lower prices but also because of lower volumes,” Gary Rodríguez, head of the Bolivian institute of foreign trade (IBCE) told BNamericas. 

Meanwhile Cochabamba business association FEPC estimates that the blockades so far this year have cost the department 115mn bolivianos (US$16.6mn).

“The ease of interrupting free transit on major highways, as well as the lack of immediate action from authorities required by law to solve social conflicts, create a state of severe legal uncertainty that acts against private sector efforts,” FEPC head Luis Laredo said in a press release.  

Meanwhile the government is accusing Morales of trying to sabotage the economy through road blockades to save his political career after the ruling barring him from the 2025 election.

Minister of government Eduardo del Castillo, a long time target of Morales’ attacks, said the former president was acting according to “personal interests.”

“Coherence and dialogue must always come first here, but unfortunately there’s a person in our country that isn’t interested in this,” Del Castillo told reporters about Morales, whom he accused of trying to destabilize the government led by President Luis Arce. 

Arce is a former ally of Morales and was economy minister during most of the latter’s spell in government, which lasted from 2006 to 2019.  

Government coordination undersecretary Gustavo Torrico claimed Morales was looking to trigger an early general election.

He said that was also the aim of opposition figureheads such as Santa Cruz governor Luis Camacho and former president Carlos Mesa. 

“[Morales, Camacho and Mesa] are completely different in terms of ideology, but they are united by a common interest, boycotting Luis Arce’s government, bringing down the Luis Arce government. They don’t want to wait until 2025. They want to do it now,” Torrico was quoted as saying by state news agency ABI.