Overview
- President Rodrigo Paz issued the measure on Saturday, publishing a decree that bans road blockades for up to 90 days and authorises temporary Armed Forces support for the police to protect strategic routes and ensure deliveries.
- The government signed an agreement with the Central Obrera Boliviana that led the COB to lift national measures but key campesino, indigenous and cocalero groups rejected the pact and continue or threaten renewed blockades.
- State road authorities reported roughly 44 active blockade points in the first hours after the decree and police and military units began using heavy machinery to clear barricades on major routes.
- Weeks of blockades have caused severe shortages of food, fuel and medical oxygen, left at least 16 people dead (13 of those linked to denied medical access) and inflicted estimated losses of about $2.6–3.0 billion on the economy.
- The government says parts of the unrest are organised from the Chapare and has publicly linked networks to Evo Morales, while negotiators from the COB and the executive continue legal talks over detained protesters as the security push tests whether unrest will fragment or escalate.