Chaos Erupts In Bolivia As Socialists Unleash General Strikes And Riots

Socialists in Bolivia, mobilized through the national labor union, highland farmer federations, and supporters of former left-wing President Evo Morales, have ignited social unrest over the U.S.-backed, market-oriented policy agenda of President Rodrigo Paz.

The turmoil comes as the Trump administration seeks to shift the Americas away from socialist regimes and closer to Washington’s pro-capitalist stance.

En Bolivia, obreros, campesinos, maestros de escuela, indígenas y transportistas, llevan mas de 2 semanas paralizando el país contra las políticas neoliberales del gobierno de Rodrigo Paz, y medios occidentales ni informan.pic.twitter.com/ruAizBAOYV

— Aníbal Garzón (@AnibalGarzon) May 17, 2026

Demonstrators clashed with police in La Paz, attempted to breach government buildings, and set up barricades amid weeks of blockades that have disrupted supplies and driven up grocery prices.

Bloomberg:

• BANK BRANCHES IN LA PAZ, BOLIVIA SUSPEND OPERATIONS AMID UNREST

President Paz accused forces linked to Morales and drug traffickers of backing the demonstrations.

Bolivia’s government has ordered the arrest of all the main leaders of the indigenous movements and mineworkers unions.

They’re being charged for Terrorism for having organised the general strike against hunger. Strike continues regardless, now in day 7. pic.twitter.com/5ISk3KPb68

— Ollie Vargas (@Ollie_Vargas_) May 19, 2026

Paz’s election last year abruptly ended two decades of nation-killing socialist rule in the landlocked South American country. Voters, exhausted by economic turmoil, surging inflation, a severe foreign-currency crisis, and declining natural gas output, opted for political change.

The Socialist Labour Party in the U.K. stands in “solidarity” with the Bolivian people…

We send our solidarity to the Bolivian people.

Just six months after US-backed President Rodrigo Paz took office, protesters are demanding his resignation. Bolivia’s government has ordered the arrest of all the main leaders of the indigenous movements and mineworkers unions.… pic.twitter.com/TnYzuVIOIv

— Socialist Labour Party (@soclp_uk) May 19, 2026

Meanwhile, Bolivia’s currency crisis has been a long time in the making under decades of state-heavy socialist rule.

By 2025, Bolivia was facing a severe dollar shortage, fuel lines, and a forty-year-high inflation. Socialism reached its endgame last year with President Paz’s election victory. Socialists squandered the nation’s inheritance.

Socialism has also reached its endgame in other countries, including:

• Argentina, 2023: Voters rejected the ruling Peronist government and elected libertarian Javier Milei amid a severe inflation and currency crisis.

• Chile, 2025: Conservative José Antonio Kast defeated the ruling left’s candidate, Jeannette Jara, marking a sharp rightward shift after the Boric era.

• As well as the US removal of socialist Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela. 

Bolivia’s unrest by socialists attempting to shut down the economy should serve as a warning that socalist NGOs and unions in the US could attempt general strike in the US to derail the economy – we outlined that here.