On Saturday (30th May) a vigil took place in Trafalgar Square London, organised by the Bartolina Sisa Resistance group, and led by its spokesperson Miriam Amancay Colque, an Indigenous ‘Aymara’ woman from Bolivia. Activists and supporters gathered in front of the National Gallery and made speeches, played live music and waved Wiphalas and banners to inform passers-by and interested observers about a lesser-publicised Imperialist mineral snatch and accompanying political interference.
* The Wiphala is the multi-coloured flag – a symbol of anti-colonial, anti-racist struggle.
Across Latin America, President Trump has already attacked Venezuela, and threatened Cuba, Mexico and Colombia, but Bolivians fear he has his sights on Bolivia’s extensive lithium reserves including in its vast surreal-looking salt flats, Salar de Unuyi.
This year, May Day saw the start of an indefinite general strike called by the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) – the country’s largest federation of workers’ unions. Since then, peasants, miners, teachers and other union workers have blocked roads and disrupted other transport, and paralysed the markets in La Paz, putting immense pressure on the neoliberal right-wing US-backed government of Rodrigo Paz who assumed presidency last November.
Before Rodrigo Paz took office, Bolivia experienced 14 years of economic, social, and political stability under the country’s first Indigenous president, Evo Morales of the MAS (Movimiento Al Socialismo). He was ousted by a coup in November 2019, and although the MAS returned to power a year later, the new leader Luis Arce failed to implement the MAS program. Instead, he aligned himself with neo-liberal policies, and barred Evo Morales, who led the country’s largest political force, from running for office in 2025, opening the doors to the right-wing.
The new government won with promises of enrichment through a new era of “capitalism for all”, but since the election, partly due to the dropping of fuel subsidies (doubling petrol and diesel process), wages have stagnated while inflation soared to more than 20%. President Paz has plunged the country into long-term debt after making deals with the IMF, World Bank and US banks, in return for privatisation, tax breaks, protections for trans-national corporations and neo-liberal cuts to services.
During May, the army and police repressed protests around the country. Two Indigenous leaders (a man and a woman) were killed, and many others injured and/or detained. On Sunday 31st May, human rights advocate Dr Rosario Chuqui was snatched from her home in El Alto, and her friends have no idea where she is being held. Two days later, protesters clashed with government convoys on the La Paz to Oruro highway and in El Alto, with at least one more fatality and possibly hundreds injured. Yesterday a neighbourhood Fejuve (Federación de Juntas Vecinales de El Alto) leader in El Alto, Justino Apaza, was badly beaten and arrested too, after holding a giant participatory council meeting (Cabildo) there.
On 27th May (Mothers’ Day), women led protests in the streets, banging pots in a massive show of resistance. Worryingly, just ahead of the protest, the government repealed Law 1341 – which was legislation passed in 2020 to prevent state abuse of Article 137 (“State of Exception”) emergency powers. This makes it much easier for the President to call in the military against ‘civil unrest’ and lessens accountability.
A major issue for protesters, especially among Indigenous farmers, is the land conversion legislation Law 1720 which was passed in April. A key sponsor was Croatian oligarch Branko Marinkovic, who is described by activists as a fascist and racist landowner who will benefit from the dispossession of communal lands which the new law will enable. Painted as legislation to stimulate rural investment, it allows smallholders to use their land as debt collateral, but the fear is that it is a trap camouflaged as something positive, and will instead see farmers having to foreclose if faced with everyday interruptions from climate or illness that delay mortgage repayments, facilitating widespread land grabs, especially from large-scale soy and grain producers like, you guessed it, Marinkovic.
Protests have achieved the promise of a repeal of Law 1720, pending confirmation in several weeks’ time. But meanwhile, the authorities have also tried to split opposition by entering into some wage deals with individual unions. And Paz has also recently signed a Decree allocating extensions of land in protected areas to the mining sector, which activists say is against the Constitution and will enable further extractivism.
Indigenous Bolivians draw our attention to global parallels. In Argentina, Milei is opening up huge swathes of unspoilt Patagonian land to widescale Israeli and US mineral extraction investment. Meanwhile President Paz is cosying up to Trump and has restored diplomatic relations with Israel (broken after the attack on Gaza), speaking with Nethanyahu on the phone and inviting cooperation on security, agriculture, health, water and tourism.
In her speech at Saturday’s vigil, Amancay ended with these words:
“The flame of resistance has been lit. Just as the Palestinians resist, Bolivian people will resist. And we say loud and clear to Trump, Netanyahu and Milei: Enough of interference. Hands off Bolivia and our Abya Yala – Latin America. Down with colonialism and imperialism. Jallalla Bolivia, Bolivia! Jallalla, Jallalla Palestine!”
*Jallalla is an Andean Aymara expression that roughly translates to “Long live”
Thanks to Amancay and Alex for their helpful contributions to this article.
