The United States is standing firm in its support of Bolivia’s delicate government, as stated by War Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday. This commitment comes amid looming threats of a coup d’état.
Hegseth took to X to announce that both the War Department and the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (A3C)—a newly formed international military and political partnership—are firmly against any attempts to unseat President Rodrigo Paz Pereira, who only assumed office six months ago.
“The United States is vigilant. Bolivia must resist reverting to the era when narco-terrorists dominated the region,” Hegseth emphasized. “Our backing of A3C allies like Bolivia will persist to ensure that narco-terrorists do not thrive on chaos and destruction in our hemisphere.”
On May 30, 2026, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth addressed the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore. On Thursday, he reiterated the Trump administration’s dedication to supporting Bolivia’s fragile leadership amid widespread demonstrations. (Edgar Su/Reuters)
In La Paz, Bolivia’s capital, the atmosphere remains tense as ongoing protests have clogged major city streets, driven by mounting economic inflation and surging fuel prices.
Bolivian Defense Minister Marcelo Salinas resigned Tuesday.
Upon taking office, Paz supported a land reform bill to boost agribusiness that Indigenous farmers said put them at risk of eviction. He further scrapped fuel subsidies, sending prices surging by nearly 90%. Motorists complained that the gasoline was contaminated and ruined their cars.
The Trump administration has said drug traffickers are responsible for inciting the mass unrest.
Police officers fired tear gas at community members who seized the Humberto Suarez oil facility during protests calling for President Rodrigo Paz’s resignation in Santa Rosa del Sara, Bolivia, on June 3, 2026. The protests have caused fuel and food shortages. (Ipa Ibanez/Reuters)
“Let there be no mistake: the United States stands squarely in support of Bolivia’s legitimate constitutional government,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote Wednesday on X. “We will not allow criminals and drug traffickers to overthrow democratically elected leaders in our hemisphere.”
“Let us not make any mistake about that; it is a coup financed by this perverse alliance between politics and organized crime across the region,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said Tuesday, stating that the protests were part of an ongoing “coup d’état.”
Bolivia’s President Rodrigo Paz delivers a speech in La Paz on June 3, 2026, after naming Ernesto Justiniano as defense minister following the resignation of Marcelo Salinas amid protests. (Claudia Morales/Reuters)
Meanwhile, former President Evo Morales, the country’s first Indigenous president who ruled for an unprecedented 14 years, is calling for early elections. “Paz only has two paths left: a suicidal decision like militarization or … an election in the next 90 days,” he wrote on X.
For almost two years now, Morales has been hiding out in Bolivia’s central coca-growing Chapare region, evading an arrest warrant on human trafficking charges relating to allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old girl. He rejects the allegations as politically motivated.
<!–>
