Bolivia's Blockades Spur Leader Tuto Quiroga to Call for Punishment and Unions to Broaden Demands

The 50‑day road blockades in Bolivia have been described by Libre party leader Jorge Tuto Quiroga as the "biggest economic crime in Bolivia's history," causing extensive human and social damage. Quiroga criticized the government's negotiations with the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), calling the blockades an "extermination" under the Rome Statute and demanding that perpetrators face "escarmiento" (punishment) rather than impunity.

Meanwhile, the COB and the Confederación Sindical Única de Trabajadores Campesinos (CSUTCB) have shifted their strategy. Moving beyond the demand for President Luis Arce’s resignation, they now press for control over the country's economic, legislative, judicial, energy, international, environmental and institutional programmes. Their broader agenda includes a family basket, fair prices, dignified pensions, fuel compensation, sectoral tables, rejection of IMF loans, a ban on privatizations and socialisation of macroeconomic measures. The unions present the government with two paths: keep roads open now but cede control over resources and sovereignty later, or resist and negotiate.

Both the leader’s call for accountability and the unions’ expanded demands highlight the deepening political and economic crisis sparked by the prolonged blockades.