Bolivia

President Rodrigo Paz has promulgated a controversial law expanding the state of exception and enabling military deployment to break highway blockades, as Bolivia enters its sixth week of protests and supply shortages. The move has drawn dialogue calls from the judicial branch and accusations of authoritarian overreach amid deepening political and economic crisis.

Bolivia is in its sharpest political crisis since the end of nearly two decades of MAS rule, with the US-backed, pro-business centrist Paz confronting the entrenched mobilization power of unions and coca growers loyal to Evo Morales. Authorizing the military to clear protests — with legal immunity baked in — revives memories of past deadly state crackdowns and risks escalation in a country with a long history of street-level confrontations toppling governments. Open US military endorsement via the new anti-cartel coalition also marks a notable deepening of Washington's footprint in a country that under Morales was firmly anti-American.