The Bolivian Workers’ Center (COB, in Spanish) has called for a nationwide demonstration this Saturday, January 3, escalating an indefinite strike against Supreme Decree 5503, a controversial fuel-price measure that cripples the economic rights of the working class.
Under the slogan “Bolivia Is Not For Sale,” the march will depart from Calamarca, a town near La Paz, and aims to reach the seat of government before a scheduled meeting between union representatives and national authorities on Monday. The mobilization marks a sharp intensification of protests that began on December 19, following the enactment of the decree.
“We are radicalizing our measures to force the government to repeal this decree,” said union leader Mario Segundo.
COB Executive Secretary Mario Argollo framed the protests as a battle for the nation’s future. “This decree puts the country up for sale,” he stated. “History will judge us if we don’t stop a government that is raffling off Bolivia.”
Argollo further accused the administration of waging a campaign of intimidation, citing arrests of labor organizers and forceful evictions from protest camps. “They are sowing chaos and terror in the style of a dictatorship”, he declared.
The movement has also drawn support from symbolic acts, including hunger strikes by spouses of affiliates of the Bolivian Mine Workers’ Union Federation (FSTMB, in Spanish), who demand the decree be scrapped.
For its part, the government reopened dialogue channels on Friday, proposing technical roundtables with the COB and the mine workers’ federation. Presidency Minister José Luis Lupo confirmed that sectoral talks are ongoing, even as protests enter their second week.