Bolivia’s Wanted Ex-President Evo Morales Threatens Protests Over Diesel
BOLIVIA · POLITICS
Key Facts
- —The country Bolivia is a landlocked Andean nation of about 12 million people, roughly Belgium’s population. Its economy is smaller than most US states’, and the state has long kept fuel cheap by decree.
- —Why it matters Evo Morales governed from 2006 to 2019 and still leads the coca growers of the Chapare, his rural stronghold. He is wanted on an arrest warrant and stays there among supporters.
- —Why now President Rodrigo Paz, in office since November 2025, scrapped the diesel subsidy on 19 September. A second decree targets loss-making state companies for reorganisation or closure.
- —What happened On Saturday 26 September, at an assembly of his new movement in Lauca Ñ, Morales gave the government until Saturday 3 October to repeal both decrees.
- —Who is involved Morales and his movement, Evo Pueblo; peasant leader Feliciano Vegamonte, who proposed the deadline; suspended senator Nilton Condori. Defence Minister Ernesto Justiniano answered for the government.
- —What it means for you If protests start on Tuesday 13 October, expect disruption on roads toward La Paz. Road blockades are banned under a state of exception that runs to 17 December.
- —Still open Whether the protest becomes a march on La Paz or rallies in each region; Morales named both. Whether he ever leaves the Chapare.
Evo Morales, Bolivia’s former president, has given the man who now runs the country one week. At a rally in his coca-growing heartland on Saturday, he told President Rodrigo Paz to repeal two economic decrees by 3 October.
“If it isn’t the easy way, it will be the hard way,” he warned, promising national protests from Tuesday 13 October. The Evo Morales ultimatum comes from a man who cannot travel freely, because an arrest warrant hangs over him.
The deadline and the two decrees
The demand targets two supreme decrees, the orders a Bolivian president issues without a vote in Congress. Decree 5716 ended the state diesel subsidy, while Decree 5727 declares the reorganisation, dissolution or liquidation of state companies a high priority.
The diesel decree hit first and hardest. On Saturday 19 September the pump price rose 83 percent, from Bs 9.80 to Bs 17.95 a litre (about US$0.81 to US$1.49).
Dollar figures use the Central Bank of Bolivia’s official rate of 12.05 bolivianos per US dollar, valid 26 to 28 September 2026. The bank is moving toward a floating currency, so the rate now shifts week to week.
Morales’s supporters call both decrees “neoliberal” and say they open the way to privatisation. The government says the diesel subsidy was costing about US$55 million a week.
Our earlier report, Bolivia Diesel Price Jumps 83% and Unions Test a Blockade Ban, covers how transport unions reacted.
A long list of grievances
The deadline was one point among about a dozen resolutions. Local outlets counted ten or eleven, read out after a meeting of more than seven hours.
The assembly rejected the government’s loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund, the global lender of last resort. It condemned what it called submission to US Southern Command, the American military’s regional headquarters.
It also objected to Bolivia’s armed forces taking part in a US-backed security initiative called the Shield of the Americas. Morales later said families might stop sending their children to military service if nothing changes.
Other points demanded that any change to the constitution come only through a new constituent assembly. Delegates also asked for the planning and energy ministries to be restored.
They want the electoral authority to process Evo Pueblo’s registration as a party. Morales founded the movement after being barred from standing for election.
Where he said it, and why he stays there
Morales spoke at an ampliado, an expanded assembly of union and party delegates, in the coliseum of Lauca Ñ. The village lies in the Chapare, the tropical coca-growing lowland of Cochabamba department where his movement was born.
He has stayed in the region because of an arrest warrant that keeps him from moving freely around the country. Delegates at the meeting pledged to protect him from capture.
The warrant comes from Tarija, a region in the south. Prosecutors there charged him with aggravated trafficking in persons, accusing him of fathering a child with a minor while he was president.
A court ordered his arrest after he failed to appear at the opening of his trial on 11 May. He denies the accusations and calls the cases political persecution.
A legal challenge to his arrest order has just been passed from a court in Beni to one in Tarija.
Who is behind the call
The deadline itself was proposed by Feliciano Vegamonte, a peasant union leader. He called for a march to La Paz that would amount to “an uprising against neoliberal policies”.
Vegamonte said the national mobilisation would begin on 13 October, the day after a large international gathering planned for Monday 12 October. Morales endorsed the idea, saying it could be “a march” or “rallies in each department”.
The meeting also drew Nilton Condori, a suspended senator from the Unidad bloc, who embraced Morales on stage.
Morales called the Paz administration “a corrupt government, a government subject to the empire, a lying government”. He offered no evidence.
He said this was not the moment to talk about candidacies, though he left open a primary run. For background, see Evo Morales Calls Bolivia’s Government Agonizing, From Wherever He Is Hiding.
How the government answered
Defence Minister Ernesto Justiniano replied within hours. “Nobody, for having been president or for being able to mobilise people, is above the law,” he told the broadcaster Unitel.
He said Morales may criticise the government and call peaceful protests. But it is not for him, the minister added, “to impose decisions on the country through threats, ultimatums or blockades”.
Justiniano recalled that arrest warrants against Morales remain in force. “If today he wants to talk about complying with the law, he should start by complying with it himself,” he said.
The minister said dialogue stays open with every sector. He added that the government must also protect free movement, supplies and the rights of Bolivians.
What comes next
The first date is Saturday 3 October, when the deadline expires. Organisers say a national decision-making meeting would then set the form and logistics of any protest.
The Evo Morales ultimatum does not mean a march is certain, nor that the decrees will fall. Paz has shown no sign of reversing the diesel decree, and road blockades are illegal under the state of exception.
It also does not mean Morales will lead a column into La Paz himself. Leaving the Chapare would expose him to arrest.
What it does show is that the fight over fuel prices now has a political leader. For anyone living in or travelling through Bolivia, mid-October is the period to watch.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Evo Morales ultimatum?
On 26 September Morales gave President Rodrigo Paz until 3 October to repeal decrees on diesel and state companies. Otherwise his movement plans national protests from 13 October.
Is Evo Morales wanted by the police?
Yes: a Tarija court ordered his arrest after he missed the 11 May start of his trial for aggravated trafficking in persons. He denies it and has stayed in the Chapare.
Are protests allowed in Bolivia right now?
Peaceful marches and meetings are allowed, the government says. Road blockades are banned under a state of exception for internal unrest that covers the whole country until 17 December.
How much does diesel cost in Bolivia now?
Since 19 September diesel costs Bs 17.95 a litre (about US$1.49), up from Bs 9.80 (about US$0.81). That uses the central bank’s official rate of 12.05 bolivianos per dollar.
Sources: Correo del Sur, 26 and 27 September 2026; Erbol, 26 September 2026; Visión 360, 26 September 2026; eju.tv, 26 September 2026; Opinión, 26 September 2026; Unitel, interviews with Defence Minister Ernesto Justiniano, 26 and 27 September 2026; Banco Central de Bolivia, official exchange rate valid 26–28 September 2026.
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