Cochabamba bears brunt of damage from road blockades

Bolivia’s Cochabamba department is still assessing the economic and infrastructure damage from the recent road blockades led by supporters of former president Evo Morales.

At the peak of the protests earlier this month, highways were blocked at 23 points in the central department, out of 36 across the entire country.

The demonstrations resulted in damage to roads, as some protesters exploded dynamite and prevented the work of maintenance crews.

“More funds and work will be needed,” Raúl Solares, head of the department’s construction chamber Cadeco Cochabamba told BNamericas, adding that some of the materials used to block roads also damaged paving. 

It is estimated that economic losses reached nearly US$1bn nationwide.

Of that amount, US$236mn correspond to Cochabamba department, though La Paz (US$320mn) and Santa Cruz (US$373mn) reported even bigger losses, according to the economy ministry.

Solares says the construction sector also suffered losses due to the inability to transport materials, equipment and personnel, making an already challenging situation worse for the sector. 

“In Cochabamba’s case, pre-pandemic [construction activity] levels have not been recovered,” he said.

For example, construction permits approved in 2023 only covered 70% of the land area compared with 2019 in the case of the department’s metropolitan area, which includes the city of Cochabamba. 

Roads were finally cleared last week after congress passed a law to call elections for judges, which were supposed to take place last year but were halted as legislators could not agree on lists of pre-candidates.

Despite this, Morales and his supporters are still calling for the removal of several key magistrates whose mandates were extended because the elections were not called.

These include the judges of the constitutional court, who in December ruled that Morales cannot run as a candidate in next year’s presidential election. 

The legislature is currently debating a bill addressing the removal of the judges, but as of last week the ‘Evista’ and ‘Arcista’ (supporters of President Luis Arce) wings of the ruling MAS party in congress had failed to reach an agreement on the issue.

The government is also accusing the pro-Morales faction of blocking the approval of US$825mn of multilateral credits in the legislature. 

Facing the possibility of new blockades, businesspeople in Cochabamba have asked authorities to prioritize the completion of a new highway to neighboring Beni department that would avoid passing through Cochabamba’s Chapare province, one of Morales’ main strongholds. 

The former president halted a highway project linking Chapare with Beni when he was in office following protests from indigenous groups. 

Solares told BNamericas there is strong interest in a highway linking the two departments, as it would significantly improve trade for both regions and is backed by their respective authorities.