On Wednesday, Bolivia’s Mother’s Day, thousands of women, mostly indigenous, took to the streets of La Paz dressed in black to mourn those killed in the past weeks of unrest and to demand President Rodrigo Paz resign.
They threatened not to allow their military-age son to be used against fellow protesters.
“We demand the withdrawal of our sons in military service, because we did not send them to kill their fathers, mothers, brothers, uncles and grandparents, but to serve their country,” read the statement of the protesting women, convened and represented by organizations such as the Bartolina Sisa Federation, the main union of Bolivian peasant women.
They said that if their sons were ordered by the state to suppress the protests, they would encourage them to return home and join the popular struggle.
The mobilization comes after Congress voted Tuesday to repeal the 2020 Exceptions Act, which places parameters on the president’s authority to declare a state of emergency and deploy the military against protests without legislative approval.
Read more: Bolivia Between Democracy and Social Conflict
“I have constitutional mechanisms. Time is running out. We have to respond and we have to find a solution,” Paz told reporters, defending the decision.
Opposition lawmaker Sonia Siñani warned against the repeal, predicting it would be like “pouring gasoline on a fire.”
The protests, now in their fourth week, have drawn criticism from residents of La Paz and El Alto who say they are causing serious obstacles and shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
The business group estimated that the lockdown was costing the economy more than $50 million a day.
The unrest has left at least four people dead and scores injured, and with legal restrictions on the executive branch effectively nullified, more violence and human rights abuses appear imminent.
Featured image: Bolivian mothers protesting on May 27, Bolivia’s Mother’s Day.
Image credit: Myriam Bregman via X
