Overview
- Riot police and union demonstrators fought around La Paz’s Plaza Murillo, with miners detonating small dynamite charges and petards and officers using tear gas, pepper spray and, per some reports, rubber bullets.
- The COB kept its indefinite mobilized strike and set up hunger-strike camps, with at least 16 union workers and two housewives reported fasting in sites tied to the miners, the main teachers’ union and the COB itself.
- Decreto 5503, in force since mid‑December, scrapped fuel subsidies and set new prices that lift gasoline about 86% and diesel about 162% after more than two decades of frozen rates.
- The government rejected calls to reverse the decree, arguing the policy stabilizes fuel availability and pairs with offsetting steps such as a minimum‑wage increase and higher student and senior stipends.
- Some transport and commerce groups paused actions after striking separate accords, while campesino organizations signaled plans to join nationwide protests from January, raising the risk of a broader conflict.