Clashes erupt as Morales supporters march on La Paz amid Bolivia crisis

Bolivian security forces clashed Monday with supporters of former President Evo Morales as they marched into the capital, La Paz, capping a six-day trek through the Andes as part of a nationwide protest movement fueled by the country’s worst economic crisis in a generation.

Thousands of Morales’s backers, some brandishing sticks of dynamite and slingshots, converged on the city center, where they were met by riot police. Dynamite blasts rumbled through downtown, and security forces responded with canisters of tear gas that wafted over demonstrators calling for President Rodrigo Paz to resign just six months into his term.

“Homeland or death, we will win!” protesters chanted as clouds of gas drifted through the streets.

The rallies and roadblocks, which began more than two weeks ago, pose the biggest challenge yet to Paz, Bolivia’s first conservative leader after nearly two decades of socialist rule, and have provoked shortages across the country.

Paz took office last year amid a wave of conservative leaders aligned with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump sweeping Latin America. He inherited the nation’s most severe economic crisis in 40 years and has struggled to replenish scarce fuel, restrain a massive budget deficit and resolve a shortage of U.S. dollars, while trying to placate powerful groups linked to Morales that could disrupt his presidency.

In recent days, Paz’s government reached deals with striking miners and teachers, who agreed to end their protests. However, many other groups continue to demonstrate.

Road blockades have long been the main weapon of social movements allied with Morales, who claim to represent Bolivia’s rural Indigenous majority. Over the past 16 days, these blockades have stranded thousands of trucks on key highways, triggering shortages of food, fuel and medical supplies in La Paz and other cities.

The government deployed police and military officers across the country over the weekend to try to break the blockades, leading to an unspecified number of injuries and at least 90 arrests as of Monday, according to the public prosecutor’s office.

“They can march if it’s peaceful, but we will take action if they commit crimes,” Deputy Interior Minister Hernán Paredes told reporters.

Paz accuses Morales of orchestrating the unrest to undermine his administration. The president has seen support from neighboring states.

Eight allied Latin American governments, from Argentina to Panama, issued a joint statement last week rejecting “any action aimed at destabilizing the democratic order.”

The U.S. State Department added its condemnation on Sunday, saying it supports Paz’s efforts “to restore order for the peace, security, and stability of the Bolivian people.”

At Paz’s request, neighboring Argentina announced it would start a weeklong humanitarian airlift to alleviate shortages in the country.

Morales marshaled the latest march from his hideout in Bolivia’s remote tropics. He has been holed up in the highlands for the past year and a half, evading an arrest warrant on charges related to his sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl.

Morales says the allegations are politically motivated.