Bolivia’s government announced on Tuesday that all road blockades had been lifted after 53 days of protests that caused severe shortages of food, fuel, and medicines. President Rodrigo Paz Pereira said the “blockade has been defeated” and confirmed that the state of exception decreed on 20 June would remain in force for up to 90 days. The Administradora Boliviana de Carreteras reported zero active blockades on the national road network, though crews were still clearing debris from four strategic routes. Paz stated that the emergency measure was the legal instrument needed to “order the country” and prevent a repeat of the paralysis, and he called for a “national encounter for unity” to address the economic damage.

From his stronghold in the Chapare region, former president Evo Morales told Agence France-Presse that the government’s “neoliberal policy” was pushing Bolivia towards “a civil war” and declared he would not surrender. Morales, who faces an arrest warrant in a case he denounces as political persecution, had announced a “cuarto intermedio” in protests by coca-grower federations. The Central Obrera Boliviana, the main union confederation, had earlier reached an accord with the government. Bolivian analyst and former minister Ricardo Calla said the opposition failed to destabilise the president and that the state of exception led to a peaceful dissolution of blockades “without a single shot being fired.”

A joint declaration issued by the United States embassy in La Paz and signed by 16 countries—including Argentina, Canada, Chile, and Peru—expressed “profound concern” over the impact of the blockades on democracy and human rights. The statement said a “violent minority” sought to disregard the will of the majority expressed in recent elections and that the protests had denied Bolivians access to essential goods, causing civilian deaths. It urged all groups to prioritise dialogue within the constitutional framework. The declaration was released on the sidelines of the Organisation of American States General Assembly in Panama, where the Bolivian crisis and regional security dominated discussions.

At the same assembly, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau urged the OEA to be “more proactive” in combating terrorist organisations that produce and traffic narcotics such as fentanyl, linking drug trafficking to violence across the hemisphere. In contrast, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira cautioned against reclassifying criminal groups under imported labels like “terrorist,” arguing that such categories confuse distinct phenomena and do not help dismantle networks. Vieira stressed that cooperation among police, intelligence services, and mutual legal assistance was the effective path, and that unilateral designations risked undermining sovereign equality. The divergence follows Washington’s recent listing of Brazilian factions PCC and CV as Foreign Terrorist Organisations. The OEA assembly also adopted a declaration condemning human rights violations in Nicaragua and calling for the restoration of democracy in Cuba and Venezuela.