Bolivian Union Truce
Bolivian Workers' Union (COB) Agrees to Truce, Dissociates from Ongoing Protests
Bolivia's main labor federation struck a truce with the government late Friday night, stepping away from 50 days of national road blockades that left 17 people dead and caused widespread fuel and food shortages. The Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) and President Rodrigo Paz signed the "Pact for Pacification and Recovery" at the Casa Grande del Pueblo, ending the urban labor movement's role in the crippling protests, according to AP News.
The deal does not end the crisis entirely. Radicalized peasant unions loyal to former President Evo Morales — known as "evistas" — are continuing to blockade key roads in Cochabamba and northern Potosí, vowing to push on until Paz resigns.
COB Breaks With Radical Evista Factions After 50 Days
The COB had been under intense internal pressure for weeks. By June 14, five of the federation's nine departmental labor centers were demanding a break from "radical evismo" to negotiate, according to Correo del Sur. COB Executive Secretary Mario Argollo finally moved, framing the deal as a matter of national survival. "We are being responsible with the country," Argollo said. "There is a country waiting for white smoke."
President Paz called the agreement a step toward "reconciliation between governors and the governed." He said the 50-day blockade should serve as a lesson to "build consensuses based on reality," according to Oxígeno Digital. Minister of the Presidency José Luis Lupo, the government's chief negotiator, warned that dialogue "cannot be at odds with the law" — signaling limits on any amnesty for arrested protesters.
Fuel Collapse and Dollar Famine Sparked the Blockade
The protests did not start overnight. Bolivia's net international reserves fell from $15 billion in 2014 to under $2 billion by early 2025, according to Infobae. Without hard currency, the government could not pay for fuel imports — which now cost the state roughly $60 million per week. Bolivia today imports 90% of its diesel and more than half of its gasoline.
Protesters on May 1 began demanding a 20% salary increase and an end to "gasolina basura" — watered-down, low-quality fuel that allegedly damaged thousands of vehicles across the country, according to AP News. By May 6, blockades began. The economic demands quickly gave way to political ones: the resignation of President Paz. Bolivia recorded 563 social conflicts in 2024 — an all-time high — and inflation hit 9.97% at year's end, its worst since 2008.
What the Pact Actually Promises — and Its 90-Day Clock
The agreement includes several concrete commitments. A technical table will discuss redistributing state revenues under a "Pacto Fiscal" framework. A joint legal team will review cases of arrested protesters one by one, aiming to avoid criminalizing protest. A special legislative commission will investigate high-profile corruption cases, including scandals known as "Narco-maderas" and "Narco-maletas," according to Visión 360.
The government has 90 days to fulfill the pact's social and economic demands — a tight clock given the scale of Bolivia's structural problems. State oil company YPFB has already dispatched 800,000 liters of gasoline to La Paz and El Alto, according to AP News, but analysts warn that supply chains could take weeks to normalize. Deputy Rolando Pacheco argued the deal is a "band-aid" that ignores the root cause: the country's chronic shortage of dollars.
Rural Blockades Hold, Leaving Paz's Future Uncertain
Even with the COB pulling back, the road war is not over. Peasant unions in Cochabamba have vowed to "harden" their measures, effectively cutting Bolivia's east off from the west, according to La Razón. The National Chamber of Commerce warned that 60% of the country's poultry and pork capital is at risk due to broken logistics chains, according to El Potosí.
Pro-Morales media have called COB leadership "traitors" for signing the deal. Political analysts say the split between the urban labor movement and the rural peasant base has caused the broader protest movement to "lose legitimacy and force," as one senator put it, quoted in La Razón. For President Paz, the pact buys time — but the evista siege shows he remains far from secure.
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