Overview
- Police used pepper spray and tear gas near Plaza Murillo after miners and other union members tried to push past barricades, with protesters setting off petards and small dynamite charges.
- The Central Obrera Boliviana called a general, open‑ended strike against decree 5503, though participation was uneven, and demonstrators blocked La Paz’s Mariscal Santa Cruz avenue.
- Road disruptions extended beyond the capital, with reported blockades in Chuquisaca and on routes from El Alto, adding to earlier nationwide closures highlighted in Cochabamba.
- The government reaffirmed the policy would not be reversed and invited talks without preconditions, arguing the fiscal cost of the subsidy was unsustainable.
- Decree 5503 replaced the subsidy with fixed six‑month pump prices, lifting gasoline by about 86% and diesel by about 162%, a shift protesters say is already pushing up fares and food costs.