Protests in Bolivia
While traveling in Bolivia, you have to be prepared to adjust your travel itinerary in order to avoid protests in Bolivia. Road blocks and protests against the Bolivian government are not uncommon. Luckily, as in Peru and Ecuador, they are usually announced in advance, so people can take their precautions. The protests often involve mine workers, transport companies, farmers and other indigenous people.
Bolivia is divided
Almost 50 precent of the Bolivian population is of indigenous origin, but they are only sparsely represented in Bolivia’s national politics. This often causes lack of confidence in the government and protests against the government. Between Bolivia’s independency from Spain in 1825 and 2006, Bolivia had even more different presidents, than years of independency! Until the indigenous Evo Morales became president of Bolivia, between 2006 and 2019. If he was a good, or a bad president for Bolivia will depend on who you ask. Fact is that he brought some stability in Bolivia and I believe that there were fewer protests during his presidency.
Corruption in Bolivia
Informality and corruption are very common in Bolivia. In daily life each Bolivian will have to deal with informality and corruption. This goes from buying and selling products on the streets (without paying taxes), to bribing police officers and/ or other government employees. On Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, Bolivia scored 28 on a scale from 0 (“highly corrupt”) to 100 (“very clean”). When ranked by score, Bolivia ranked 133st among the 180 countries in the Index. This is a shame, because Bolivia is very rich in natural resources, especially minerals. There is a saying that Bolivia is like a vagabond, sitting on a golden chair. With good leadership, it could be a rich and prosperous country…
Cause of current protests in Bolivia
The current (November 2025) protests in Bolivia have several origins and reasons. The main cause is years of bad politics. As a result the country has a huge shortage of US$ and one of the main consequences is that Bolivia isn’t able to buy enough fuel from its neighbouring countries. Not enough fuel, means that transport is restricted and the nock-on effect is that all prices from products that needs to be transported, went up. In addition to the USD and fuel crisis, there will also soon be new presidental elections…
Bolivia’s complicated situation
Bolivia’s grounds are rich with minerals, including silver, gold, tin and one of the largest supplies of lithium (used in batteries). Evo Morales tried to use these resources to improve the Bolivian Economy, but he discovered that Bolivia wasn’t/ isn’t capable of extracting its own minerals in a way that makes is profitable for the whole economy. Bolivia lacks both knowledge and experience, so it depends on foreign investment in its mining industry. This could work out with fair investment deals. However, many foreign companies take advantage of Bolivia’s weak negotiation position and corrupt, short term thinking governmental workers. One result are the current construction plans for a lithium extraction plant on the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia’s main tourist attraction. Tourism is a sustainable source of income, mining not…
Protests while traveling in Bolivia
Should the current protests, or future protests stop you from booking your vacation to Bolivia? No. Bolivians can be resourceful people if they have to. When protests, or other things interrupt their daily life and routine, they will find ways to accept and/ or deal with them by being very flexible. A popular saying in Bolivia is: “En Bolivia todo es posible, nada securo”. This means something like: “In Bolivia everything is possible, but there are no guarantees”. While traveling in Bolivia you have to keep this in mind. When there are protests in Bolivia (not if, but when, because there are often protests), then you have to keep yourself informed, try to avoid the protests and look for alternatives. If main roads are blocked, there are often alternative routes to travel. Remember to stay patient and friendly and dealing with these inconveniences will just become another part of your travel experience.
Ponchos Rojos
Bolivians are known for their lack of organisation skills. Of course there are positive examples of well organized Bolivians, but there is also one negative example. They call themselves ‘Ponchos Rojos, or ‘the Red Ponchos. If you want to organise a protest in Bolivia, but you are worried that there won’t be enough participants, you can hire groups of protesters from Ponchos Rojos to participate in your protest.
Travel anecdote about a protest in Bolivia
Years ago, when I was working as a tour leader, I was with a group of 18 tourists in Sucre. It was on the news that there would be protests and roadblocks on the main road from Sucre to La Paz, on the day that we were suppose to travel. We decided as a group that we would depart Sucre one day earlier, in order to avoid the road blocks. As a result of this decision, we arrived on the 20th June, instead of the 21st of June in La Paz. The new arrival date allowed us to depart on the 21st of June, very early in the morning, from La Paz to Tiahuanaco. Tiahuanaco is an archaeological site on sacred ground. Each year on the 21st of June indigenous Bolivians enter the archaeological site before sunrise to celebrate the winter solstice. It is a very special happening and we were lucky to be able and permitted to visit their celebration.
