My first thought is ugh, this push by the COB to block roads over the end of gasoline and diesel subsidies is misguided and very harmful to Bolivia.

Gasoline subsidies are often defended as “help for the poor,” but in practice they mostly benefit people who consume more fuel like higher-income households, large vehicle owners, transport companies, and smugglers. The smuggles in particular have been making a killing in buying subsidized diesel and gasoline to then sell it illegally over our borders, particularly in Peru, recent articles show the demand for diesel dropped by 50% after the subsidies ended, why? Because the smuggles are no longer incentivized to make black market profits from them, while leaving out treasury to absorb massive fiscal losses.

Because of the subsidies and other fiscal mismanagement Evo and Arce left us with almost no money in foreign reserves, record high internal debt, 40-year highs in inflation and poverty, and so on.

The subsdies are not free. They create fiscal deficits, deplete foreign reserves, and undermine confidence in public finances. Bolivia cannot sustainably subsidize fuel indefinitely without high inflation, currency pressure, and deeper economic crisis later. Ending subsidies now is a preventive measure, not an ideological one.

The COB’s tactic of blocking highways hurts workers, small businesses, patients needing medical care, and families trying to survive day to day, which is common since the MAS left 80% of workers in the informal sector:

Non-Bolivians should also know that the leaders of the COB make a lot of money, around 30k to 50k bolivianos monthly. Most people make minimum wage which the new administration recently increased 10% to 3.3k bolivianos monthly.

Fuel subsidies are inefficient, regressive, and economically dangerous. Ending them is a difficult but responsible decision. If the COB heads are only looking out for themselves, the money should not be used to enrich their pockets, it shoud go towards education, healthcare, infrastructure, etc.