Empty streets and closed store-fronts and offices stretch as far as the eye can see in Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s largest city. The normally traffic-clogged avenues remain vacant, save for the occasional biker or motorcycle.
The reason things have come to a standstill is because residents have erected roadblocks at dozens of intersections throughout the city, paralyzing transport and everyday commerce since Oct. 22.
The civil strike, more than a standard protest, is a symptom of an enduring struggle for Santa Cruz residents. Known affectionately as “Crucenos,” locals in the region initiated a voluntary, department-wide economic shutdown to coerce a fair share of resources from the country’s entrenched socialist government.
What sparked the rebellion was a delayed national census.
An official census is something few residents of Western nations are willing to lose sleep over, let alone money. Though in Bolivia, the delayed census—initially scheduled for 2020—has become the crux of a political battle. The Movement for Socialism (MAS) party leader and President Luis Arce is locked in a standoff with the right-wing regional government and demonstrators in Santa Cruz.
Political opposition and strike organizers want the national census to happen in 2023 v. 2024, with results available before the next presidential election in 2025. An official census will give the department more representatives in both the upper and lower houses of government. It also forces Arce’s administration, by law, to distribute more money to Santa Cruz due to its rapidly growing population.
The Amazonian department of Santa Cruz is Bolivia’s economic dynamo. It generates 72 percent of the nation’s food supply and contributes to nearly 30 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Moreover, the department is a high-performing energy producer. Last year, it shattered domestic fossil fuel production records. Liquid hydrocarbon manufacturing climbed to more than 14 thousand barrels per day, while natural gas rose to 16 million cubic meters per day.
Many Crucenos believe the department’s production power, combined with a right-leaning regional government and capitalist work ethic, is why MAS is dragging its feet on an official census.
Because with the admission of a growing population, more money, and politicians, comes more power.
Beyond politics, some locals in Santa Cruz say the economic shutdown is really more about freedom than a census.
Ramiro Santiago is a 65-year-old businessman and hobby rancher who moved to Santa Cruz from Cochabamba because of the friendly locals. He told The Epoch Times, “The problem is politics. The government doesn’t want to give us our fair share of resources.”
Santiago is one of the strike leaders and patrols a roadblock near a critical traffic artery on San Martin Avenue. He believes Arce’s government has developed a “hunger” for power and if Crucenos don’t act now, the situation will get worse.
Santa Cruz is no stranger to fighting ruling governments.
In 2019, it led a nationwide movement to remove former socialist President Evo Morales from office after a contested general election. At the time, Morales had run for and, arguably, won an unconstitutional fourth term in office. This is regardless of losing a referendum that would have allowed him to hold a fourth term in 2016.
Today, Arce—the former minister of the economy under Morales—is running the country.
“The main goal of this government is to cut our freedom,” Santiago stated resolutely.
Yet the battle against Arce’s administration comes at a high cost to Crucenos. After six days of total economic shutdown, locals are starting to feel the pinch. Gas stations are running out of fuel. In the few hours allocated for food shopping, shelves in grocery stores are increasingly more bare.
“It’s a real sacrifice for everybody. You can see all the businesses are closed,” a protester who asked to be called Rodrigo told The Epoch Times.
A portable shade canopy with chairs stands in front of a large shopping mall, allowing demonstrators some respite from the 95 degree heat. From here, Rodrigo keeps an eye on several improvised roadblocks made from broken chunks of concrete, police tape, and tree branches. On a typical day, he works as a lawyer in the departmental capital.
“They’re [MAS government] violating their own law. They don’t want to do the census because they'll have to give more money to this region,” he said.
And while some Crucenos feel Arce is ignoring their efforts, the impact of Santa Cruz grinding to a halt has been felt nationwide. The minister of productive development, Nestor Huanca, on Oct. 26 announced the suspension of food exports from Bolivia to protect local supply chains until the civil strike ends.
Early negotiations between Santa Cruz officials and Arce’s representatives had broken down on Oct. 22 due to inflexible demands on both sides. However, Arce said a “definitive solution” for the delayed census would be announced after meeting with representatives from all nine departments in Cochabamba on Oct. 28.
And while some Santa Cruz residents hope for a solution, others say nothing good will come from the meeting.
Rodrigo shared the sentiment. He said Arce’s refusal to come to Santa Cruz is, “mocking us and our effort.”
The civil strike has already moved beyond the borders of Santa Cruz and is quickly gaining national support. Protest organizers from the departments of La Paz, Beni, Tarija, Cochabamba, and Chuquisaca have organized supportive marches and demonstrations for a 2023 census.
In the government capital La Paz, a peaceful march supporting Santa Cruz’s strike for a 2023 census was met with violent opposition from MAS supporters on Oct. 26. Pro-MAS actors launched rocks and fireworks at the peaceful protesters. Police eventually arrived and dispersed the attackers with tear gas.
On Oct. 27, local media reported another MAS sympathizer attack on 2023 census demonstrators in the wine-growing region of Tarija.
Police confirmed one civilian casualty as a result of violent clashes between 2023 census supporters and MAS party advocates in the town of Puerto Quijarro on Oct. 22.
Opponents of the strike in Santa Cruz are mostly MAS party backers, many of whom are not able to withstand the inflated prices and commodity scarcity that’s impacting the poorest sectors of the country.
But Crucenos vow to stand their ground despite the attacks.
“We'll go on as long as we can handle. The people want to be heard,” protest organizer Christian Gutiérrez told The Epoch Times.
Gutiérrez and his group control the blockade at one end of the bridge across the Pirai River, where a cluster of motorcycles bars access, and men on foot evaluate if and what vehicles may pass.
Ambulances, essential workers, and residents with personal emergencies are generally allowed to pass without issue.
At the other end of the bridge, civil-strike supporter Jose Miguel moves a recycled shipping pallet, to allow a motorcycle to pass through the barricade. “I’ve been out here every day now. I’m committed to this for as long as it takes,” Miguel told The Epoch Times.
“We need peace between Bolivians. We’re peaceful people here,” said Rodrigo.
He, like many Crucenos, hopes Arce will be reasonable with the census date.
