Massive cost of living spike hits Bolivia

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Fakundo Franco, a 78-year-old taxi driver who supports two grandchildren, is exhausted. He has spent the past 5 days waiting in a gasoline line that hasn't moved. Cars filled with others doing the same run for more than 20 blocks.

[00:00:22]>> There's no fuel to keep things running.

[00:00:24]We need to be able to work >> on the highways leading into La Pas and Elto, home to more than 1.7 million people. There are 1,600 fuel tankers that could ease the weight for Fakundo and thousands of others. But not a single drop of fuel has reached this city in the past 10 days.

[00:00:49]Critical food supplies now rely on domestic air bridges and humanitarian aid from Chile, Brazil, Peru, and Argentina. Still, shortages of meat, vegetables, and eggs have left supermarket shelves empty, while prices for basic food items have soared, some increasing as much as four-fold. Julia Ramos, a market vendor who depends on a daily income, says not having enough goods to sell has meant not having food on her own table.

[00:01:26]We feel deeply affected. The president must once and for all take this to heart and resolve the conflict. Enough of the fighting. There are already too many problems. When I try to get goods to sell, everything is expensive. Onions, fruit, the prices are through the roof.

[00:01:47]Vibrant commercial entertainment district have gone quiet. David declare a restaurant owner with 10 employees who have families to feed is seeing fewer customers with each passing day. Despite this, he has had to resort to extreme measures to secure supplies like transporting meat via airplane to Elto and hiding the merchandise from the blockaders.

[00:02:15]>> We have to secure space on different transport routes since the goods arrive in Elto just to be able to suck up. We even had to hire dump trucks to avoid drawing attention precisely because Elalto is heavily blocked. There are many people a lot of attention. So you just can't have any kind of troubles going in or out especially not at night and particularly not from a military base which is where our products have been arriving.

[00:02:46]Declare's restaurant is one of the few open as many others have had to close and dismiss personnel due to the lack of food supplies. Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Pas says he wants dialogue with the sectors of society that feel isolated and has created a council to negotiate with such groups. He has also sustainably cut his own pay and that of his cabinet in a show of his commitment to the country.

[00:03:18]>> I want to inform you that this president together with his ministers has taken the decision as part of the effort and commitment to the country to lower his salary by 50%. So that it contributes to a clear effort that Bolivia has a president and ministers who will join that effort. 50% of our salary will be reduced.

[00:03:41]>> Despite the negotiation efforts, protest against President Pass keep filling the streets and roads, often accompanied by heavy use of dynamite, further endangering the public.

[00:03:55]A month of blocked roads, fuel shortages, school shutdowns, and businesses forced to close have made life pass extremely difficult. and expensive for ordinary residents. For them, the end of the crisis cannot come soon enough. Monica Machiko, CGTN Laass.