Trouble started within the first two weeks
The first stumble came just eleven days after inauguration. Freddy Vidovic, a lawyer close to Vice President Edmand Lara, was removed from the Justice Ministry on November 20, 2025, after it emerged he had concealed a prior conviction that barred him from holding public office. Paz never named a lasting successor; instead, he folded the ministry's functions into deputy ministries elsewhere, effectively leaving Bolivia without a standalone Justice Ministry.
The Hydrocarbons Ministry changed hands on April 22, when Mauricio Medinaceli was replaced by Marcelo Blanco amid the so-called tainted-fuel scandal. The legal fallout came later: in late July, Medinaceli was arrested over his alleged role in distributing adulterated gasoline. Blanco still runs the ministry, but shortages have persisted — the state takeover of YPFB announced September 3 was a direct response to ongoing failures in fuel imports and distribution.
Three ministries fell alongside the protests
In mid-2026, more than 50 days of road blockades — with some sectors demanding the president's resignation — claimed three more posts. Edgar Morales left the Labor Ministry on May 21. Beatriz García resigned from Education on June 2 amid criticism over delayed talks with teachers' unions, and Marcelo Salinas exited Defense the same day, faulted for not backing efforts to clear the roads.
Cynthia Yáñez left Tourism on July 8, citing "personal reasons." Weeks later, Paz used the moment to reshuffle his cabinet: he moved José Luis Lupo out of the Presidency Ministry — later naming him ambassador to the OAS — and installed former foreign minister Fernando Aramayo in his place, as La Razón reported. In the same move, the executive announced it was shutting down the Tourism and Planning ministries. But Planning's then-minister, Fernando Romero, pushed back: La Razón reported that eliminating a ministry legally requires an act of the Legislative Assembly, not a presidential decree — meaning that, formally at least, the post still exists.
The only departure tied to corruption
The most damaging exit for the cabinet's image was José Gabriel Espinoza's, at Economy. The Legislative Assembly censured him on August 19 for skipping a hearing over his purchase of a luxury vehicle with questionable paperwork; the executive formalized his removal two days later. Unlike Justice or Planning, Economy got a quick replacement with no legal ambiguity attached.
The cabinet reshuffling hasn't eased social tension. Government Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo — one of the six officials marking ten months in office — announced on September 13 that the executive will bring a decree to the Assembly extending the state of emergency in place since June, citing fresh threats of mobilization from transport workers, trade groups, teachers and coca growers over fuel and dollar shortages.
What Bolivia actually agreed to with the IMF
Behind all of it sits the deal with the International Monetary Fund: Bolivia and the Fund closed a $1.9 billion loan in late July, which the executive sent to the Assembly on September 4 for approval. That same day, at an economic forum, Paz defended phasing out the fuel subsidy with a line that summed up his position: "It's subsidy or future." But the real timeline is longer than often repeated: according to Infobae, the government committed to eliminating the subsidy starting in 2027 — not before this year is out.
Who's still standing
Six names from the original cabinet remain: Marcela Flores (Health and Sports), Mauricio Zamora (Public Works), Marco Antonio Calderón (Mining), Óscar Justiniano (Productive Development), Marco Antonio Oviedo (Government) and Fernando Aramayo, who moved from Foreign Affairs to the Presidency ministry in August. For a government that came in promising stability after years of political crisis, ten months in, the tally — eight departures, one ministry stuck in legal limbo, and an economic plan running on a longer clock than advertised — leaves an open question: was the problem picking the wrong team in November, or has Bolivia simply become impossible to govern without friction?
