The United States, alongside other member nations of the Shield of the Americas, issued a strong condemnation on Friday against what they describe as “ongoing efforts” in Bolivia to destabilize the “legitimately and overwhelmingly elected” government of President Rodrigo Paz.
“The countries within the Shield of the Americas stand united in denouncing attempts to unseat the legitimately and overwhelmingly elected government of President Rodrigo Paz in Bolivia,” the statement declared. “We stand in solidarity with President Paz’s democratic administration as it confronts efforts to undermine Bolivia’s progress through deceptive road blockades that jeopardize the delivery of essential food, medicine, and supplies to its citizens.”
The statement further emphasized that “mob rule cannot substitute the choice made by a majority of Bolivians at the ballot box, which aimed to leave behind two decades of corrupt governance.”
Additionally, the declaration urged accountability for those financing protests with “dirty money” from drug trafficking and transnational crime, warning, “Those with legitimate grievances should seize the opportunity for dialogue offered by the government and reject those exploiting their causes for a return to power.”
On May 20, 2026, demonstrators took to the streets of La Paz, Bolivia, protesting against road blockades and the tactics employed by those demanding President Rodrigo Paz’s resignation amid the nation’s economic and fuel crisis. (Claudia Morales/Reuters)
The State Department made the joint statement along with Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The statement comes as Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, has been rocked by weeks of social unrest as mass protests have blocked streets in major cities amid economic inflation and rising 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.
Meanwhile, former President Evo Morales of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) party, 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.
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)
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.
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)
On Thursday, War Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a post on X, that the War Department and the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (A3C), a recently established multinational military and political alliance, reject all attempts to overthrow the government of Rodrigo Paz Pereira six months into his term.
Bolivia’s former President Evo Morales greets a member of the country’s anti-drugs forces in Santa Cruz province near the Paraguay border on March 28, 2009. T (Stringer/Reuters)
“The United States is watching. Bolivia must not allow itself to fall prey to the old status quo of narco-terrorist dominance in the region,” Hegseth wrote. “We will continue to support our A3C partners like Bolivia to ensure that narco-terrorists are deterred from profiting on death and destruction in our hemisphere.”
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