SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia—The faint aroma of burnt tires still hangs in the air. Piles of debris choke the streets of Bolivia’s most-populous city as lines of cars stretch in every direction at intersections, crawling through minefields of metal shards, nails, and broken glass.
It’s a jarring reminder that when the locals in Santa Cruz protest and shut down the economy, they mean business.
Piles of garbage spill into the streets, standing as tall as the goalposts in soccer fields while sanitation trucks scramble to restore regular pick-up.
It’s a scene of utter chaos as Santa Cruz residents—known locally as “Cruceños”—attempt to reclaim their city and department after 36 days of total economic shutdown.
Concurrently, the ruling socialist government is scrambling to recover massive economic losses. Bolivia’s ministry of the economy reported that estimated losses exceed US$1 billion (6.9 billion bolivianos), but more conservative analysts say the deficit is US$780 million.
During an emergency meeting held on Nov. 4 to debate changes in the national census date, Arce denounced the economic shutdown in Santa Cruz as being deliberately politicized.
The head of state claimed the strike was meant to “destabilize” and “overthrow” the elected MAS government.
After a tense standoff, strike leaders agreed to end the shutdown on Nov. 26. A peace agreement was reached once the nation’s Congress passed a law agreeing to distribute any additional resources or political seats owed to the department from the census before the 2025 general election.
Santa Cruz is the nation’s powerhouse producer of key exports such as soy, beef, and natural gas.
The census is a linchpin for Cruceños because the distribution of resources such as tax revenue and congressional seats is based on population density in the country’s nine departments.
Bolivia’s last national census took place more than a decade ago. Since then, Santa Cruz has become more than just the most prominent city; it also generates a third of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The ruling government has historically been reluctant to relinquish additional politicians or money to the right-wing departmental government in Santa Cruz. It’s something that members of Arce’s administration have openly admitted to avoiding.
During the strike, or “paro,” thousands of citizens occupied the streets throughout the department, initiating a network of messy and sporadically violent demonstrations that effectively paralyzed the country’s top economic producer.
Over the weeks, four people were reportedly killed, and another 178 were injured during clashes between strike supporters and pro-MAS actors.
The South American country hasn’t endured protests of this magnitude since the contested presidential election in 2019. That year, irregularities detected in the voting process prompted Bolivians to enact similar measures at a national level.
A Great Sacrifice
“It’s been hard to remain unemployed for over a month,” Santa Cruz resident Vivian Suarez told The Epoch Times.Suarez and her family took turns manning a blockade in the sweltering summer heat near the second ring in downtown Santa Cruz. They stretched the green-and-white departmental flag across a barrier made from stacks of tires near a busy intersection.
She said her husband and two oldest children abandoned their normal jobs and closed their family business in support of the paro.
But now she’s not sure how they'll manage to pay their bills or buy Christmas gifts for her family.
“Most Bolivians need to work every day just to survive. My family is middle class, but it’s been a great sacrifice [not working] even for us,” she said.
Cruceños have also driven up inflation in Bolivia over the past month.
The South American nation had the lowest levels of inflation on the entire continent at 1.2 percent as of June, according to official figures. By comparison, neighboring Peru and Chile struggled with inflation rates surpassing 8 percent and 13 percent this year, respectively.
That’s because Bolivia produces much of its own essential commodities, from foods such as essential grains, fruit, and meat, to oil and natural gas. Though with everything shut down for 36 days, the country has felt the sting of inflated prices hitting markets throughout the country.
“Everything has gone up in price here since the paro,” Edwin Flores told The Epoch Times.
Flores lives in the historical capital of Sucre in the neighboring department of Chuquisaca. He said it didn’t take long to see a price increase in fruits and vegetables during his weekly market visits.
“We definitely feel it when Santa Cruz shuts down, they produce most of everything here [in Bolivia],” he said.
Bolivia is a major natural gas exporter in South America and has the second-largest proven reserves on the continent. It’s also a major exporter of oil to neighboring commercial giants such as Brazil and Argentina.
Existing global supply disruptions and price hikes from Russia’s conflict in Ukraine have prompted some economists to speculate that Bolivia’s lengthy shutdown could have consequences on regional energy markets.
Analyst Gonzalo Gosalves said the strike in Santa Cruz “generated such a great loss for the country. GDP growth has been damaged in the midst of the global crisis.”
All or Nothing
For some strike supporters, the departmental government’s agreement to end the shutdown on Nov. 26 came as a slap in the face.A general “all-or-nothing” mentality had taken hold of many residents who wanted the national census to be held in 2023. They quickly renounced their support for Calvo and Santa Cruz’s governor, Luis Fernando Camacho, in the wake of Congress approving the new census date.
Arce’s government compromised by moving the census to earlier in the year, establishing March 2024 as the official date. With the additional resources from the results guaranteed before the next presidential election, many Cruceños considered it a victory.
Yet for others, it was deemed a betrayal.
Within hours of the announcement of the paro’s end, radical protesters attacked Calvo’s house, throwing rocks and shouting “traitor” at the civil leader. In some parts of the city, protesters initially refused to lift their blockades.
For a small fraction of Cruceños, there was no acceptable outcome other than a national census in 2023.
“He [the governor] told us we had to hold our ground, that we needed to have the census in 2023,” Santa Cruz resident Rodrigo Vaca told The Epoch Times.
Vaca is upset with the departmental government. In hindsight, he called the strike a “barely concealed effort to gain more political power.”
“What did I make this sacrifice for, if not the census in 2023? I didn’t work for a month, and now my family needs money.”
