Bolivia Moves Toward State of Emergency After 35 Days of Protests, Blockades and Nine Dead

Anti-government demonstrators maintain a road blockade in the Rio Seco area of El Alto, Bolivia, on June 2, 2026, following days of protests amid growing political tensions and supply shortages affecting different regions of the country. Since last May, workers, peasants, miners, transport workers, and teachers have been calling for urgent action to confront the country's most severe economic crisis in forty years, and their demands include concrete economic measures as well as the resignation of President Rodrigo Paz. (Credit: Photo by Marvin RECINOS/AFP via Getty Images)

Bolivia's political and humanitarian crisis took a major step toward an unprecedented threshold on Wednesday, June 3, when President Rodrigo Paz sent a new bill to the Plurinational Legislative Assembly (ALP) to formally regulate states of emergency — a move that signals the government may be preparing to deploy the military and police under extraordinary constitutional powers to break a month-long siege of the country's road network. With 103 active road blockades across seven departments, nine people dead, and La Paz under a near-total logistical siege, the crisis has reached a turning point from which there may be no easy exit.

How Bolivia Got Here: 35 Days of Blockades