LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – Thousands of residents in Bolivia’s administrative capital La Paz have been lining up for hours in freezing temperatures to buy subsidised chicken, as a month-long blockade by anti-government protesters continues to strangle food and fuel supplies into one of the highest cities in the world, deepening what analysts describe as the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
At the Camacho Market in the heart of La Paz — a city built more than 3,600 metres above sea level in the Andean highlands — scenes of more than 150 people queuing to purchase a single chicken have become a daily reality. The price of chicken has more than doubled since the siege began, with a single bird now selling for as much as 100 bolivianos, approximately ten US dollars, in a country where the minimum wage struggles to cover basic household needs. Graffiti on the walls of the city captures the public mood with brutal concision: he promised capitalism for all and brought hunger for all.
The blockades, led by the Bolivian Workers’ Centre and allied peasant organisations, have sealed the main roads into La Paz for four consecutive weeks, preventing trucks carrying food, medicine and fuel from reaching the capital. The protests began in May over a controversial land-mortgage law — since repealed — but have since broadened into sweeping demands for economic reform and the resignation of President Rodrigo Paz, who took office less than seven months ago following elections in October 2025.
The human cost of the siege is mounting rapidly. At least four people have been killed and ninety others arrested since protests escalated in mid-May, when demonstrators began detonating explosives and clashing with police near the presidential palace in Plaza Murillo, which has been sealed with barriers and chains for the duration of the blockade. Lines at petrol stations stretch for miles, with deliveries sometimes taking three or four days to arrive.
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The government has attempted to alleviate the food shortage through unconventional means. On May 27, the authorities airlifted subsidised chicken into La Paz to circumvent the road blockades — a measure that provided temporary relief but fell far short of addressing the scale of the shortage. Most essential commodities remain blocked from entering the capital, and small business owners who depend on daily supply chains say they are on the verge of collapse.
The immediate crisis of the blockades sits atop a far deeper structural problem. Bolivia is experiencing its most acute economic difficulties since the global financial crisis, driven by years of declining natural gas production, a severe shortage of US dollar reserves, and a trade deficit that has persisted since 2015. Foreign currency reserves, which stood at more than sixteen billion dollars a decade ago, fell below two billion dollars in late 2024. The dollar shortage has stymied imports, driven up the cost of fertilisers, medicines and food, and strained the subsidy system that for years helped keep fuel prices at artificially low levels.
A presidential decree in December 2025 ended national fuel subsidies, triggering an immediate surge in petrol prices and contributing to a wave of public anger that has fed directly into the current unrest. The ongoing Iran war, which has disrupted global oil supply chains and driven up energy prices internationally, has added further external pressure to an economy with little cushion to absorb external shocks.
President Paz has continued to call for dialogue and expressed confidence in a peaceful resolution, most recently speaking from the city of Cochabamba to appeal for national reconciliation. The mobilised sectors have rejected the appeal, and opposition politicians have joined the chorus of voices demanding his resignation, accusing him of failing to act decisively when the protests began and of having no credible plan to address the structural conditions driving the crisis.
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Local residents interviewed by international media described a daily struggle that has reshaped the rhythms of ordinary life in a city already accustomed to hardship. “I used to go to the market with 100 bolivianos and buy everything — it was enough for more than a week,” one resident told reporters. “Now what I buy isn’t enough for two days.” Others described taking on multiple jobs simultaneously — driving, carpentry, painting — in an attempt to keep pace with prices that continue to rise faster than wages.
International observers and regional organisations have expressed concern over the trajectory of the crisis, calling on the government and protest leaders to reach a negotiated settlement that restores supply chains and prevents further deterioration of conditions for ordinary Bolivians. With no resolution in sight and temperatures in La Paz dropping further as the Southern Hemisphere winter deepens, the pressure on the government to act is expected to intensify in the days ahead.
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