Joint Declaration of Revolutionary Organizations of Brazil, Argentina and the United States
Internationalist Workers Group (GOI) – Brazil, Revolutionary Workers Current (CTR) – Argentina – Socialists Without Borders – United States
We, the undersigned revolutionary organizations of Brazil, Argentina and the United States, express our unconditional support for the heroic struggle of the Bolivian people who, after more than six weeks of indefinite general strike and road blockades, are opening a revolutionary crisis against the government of Rodrigo Paz.
In just a few months, Rodrigo Paz’s government has demonstrated its openly austerity-driven and subservient nature. Under his administration, fuel prices have risen sharply, adulterated gasoline that destroys workers’ vehicles has been distributed, and there has been an attempt to impose Law 1720 to favor large landowners and hand over land and natural resources to monopolies, along with a general advance of austerity measures that have eroded the living conditions of the working majority.
In a country extraordinarily rich in minerals and natural resources, the average salary remains insufficient to cover the basic family basket, while more than 80% of the working class remains in the informal sector, without real access to labor rights or pensions.
Faced with this situation, the Bolivian Workers’ Central (COB), along with peasant, miner, and indigenous unions, has taken the lead in the struggle. After more than six weeks of an indefinite general strike and over fifty roadblocks across the country, the mobilization has paralyzed the economy and demonstrated the government’s loss of control over the streets, the roads, and the country’s economic life.
Despite the existence of conciliatory factions, grassroots pressure has thus far prevented any agreement that does not include Paz’s resignation. The slogan “Down with the Government” has become the central demand uniting broad sectors of the Bolivian people.
We strongly condemn the repression unleashed by the Rodrigo Paz government, which has left dozens injured, killed, and resulted in hundreds of arbitrary arrests. We demand the immediate release of all political prisoners and an end to all forms of criminalization of protest. We call on the rank and file of the Bolivian Army to refuse to repress their own people and to stand with those who are fighting.
We reject any attempt to impose a state of exception or to resort to repression as a way out of the crisis.
The solution cannot come from militarism or from top-down agreements that leave the power of big business and imperialism intact.
We denounce the preparations by the Paz government and US imperialism to crush the popular uprising through military repression and the imposition of a state of emergency. This includes the support of Javier Milei’s government through the shipment of repressive equipment, and the manipulation of the reactionary regional bloc, known as the Shield of the Americas, which undermines popular struggles throughout the continent.
We reject any attempt at mediation by self-proclaimed progressive governments in the region, such as those of Gustavo Petro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who, under the pretext of seeking “peaceful solutions,” are trying to divert the Bolivian people’s struggle, contain their radicalization, and preserve the capitalist order. Experience shows that such mediations only serve to demobilize the masses and buy time for the regime.
At the same time, we call on workers, especially Latin American immigrants in the United States, to organize and express their active solidarity with the Bolivian people in their struggle. The struggle of the Bolivian people is also the struggle of oppressed workers throughout the continent.
We call upon workers, peasants, Indigenous peoples, and revolutionary organizations throughout Latin America to build an active internationalist solidarity that goes beyond mere declarations and helps prevent the intervention of U.S. imperialism and its regional allies. The Bolivian struggle is part of the same class battle being waged by workers and oppressed peoples in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and across the continent against austerity, the surrender of resources, and repression.
It is time to spread the flame of the Bolivian rebellion throughout the continent. Down with the austerity and sell-out governments of Latin America! For the unity of workers and indigenous peoples against imperialism and its lackeys!
Down with the austerity, plundering government!and pro-imperialistby Rodrigo Paz!
Long live the indefinite general strike and the popular blockades!
Immediate freedom for all political prisoners!
¡For a government of the COB, the peasant unions, the neighborhood councils, and the indigenous peoples who are at the forefront of the struggle on the front lines against the pro-imperialist government of Rodrigo Paz!
¡For a Socialist Bolivia in a Socialist America!
Internationalist Workers’ Group (GOI) – Brazil
Revolutionary Workers’ Current (CTR) – Argentina
Socialists Without Borders – United States