This is the third in a series of reports on Bolivia's ongoing political and economic crisis. Read Part One and Part Two here.
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Saturday, May 23, 2026 — What began three weeks ago as a wave of economic discontent has curdled into something uglier and more deliberate: a coordinated campaign of violence designed not to win concessions from a government, but to destroy it. On Saturday, as Bolivia's Minister of Public Works led a humanitarian convoy flying white flags down the La Paz–Oruro highway, he was ambushed — not once, but twice — by protesters wielding dynamite. His whereabouts went unknown for hours. The question Bolivia must now confront is no longer whether these protests represent legitimate popular will. It is who is really pulling the strings — and why they cannot afford for Bolivia to have peace.
