In the midst of a wave of mass protests in Bolivia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X that the United States “stands squarely in support of Bolivia’s legitimate constitutional government,” smearing the protesters as “criminals and drug traffickers” who he would not allow to “overthrow democratically elected leaders in our hemisphere.” Rubio’s comments on Bolivia came after three weeks…
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This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on May 19, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
A leader of Bolivia’s main labor federation, the Bolivian Workers’ Union, said late Monday that the country’s public prosecutor is “trying to silence” mass protests that have included Indigenous communities, miners, peasants, and teachers in recent days, as the government issued arrest warrants for labor and grassroots organizers.
TeleSUR reported that State Attorney General Roger Mariaca confirmed his office was charging Mario Argollo, executive secretary of the union, known in Spanish as Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), with public instigation to commit crimes and terrorism.
“They will not subdue us in the struggle we have undertaken,” Argollo said in a statement. “They are trying to silence us as leaders with popular actions and criminal charges.”
Drop Site News also reported that the public prosecutor issued an arrest order targeting Justino Apaza Callisaya, a leader of the Federation of Neighborhood Councils of La Paz (FEJUVE), “an influential grassroots organization tied to urban protest movements and labor mobilizations.”
BREAKING: New documents purport to show arrest and detention orders issued by Bolivia’s Public Prosecutor’s Office in La Paz against protest leaders and labor organizers connected to recent nationwide strikes and road blockades.It says prosecutors are investigating several… https://t.co/9lVZV3IL1R— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) May 19, 2026
The office is also reportedly investigating “several individuals” following COB’s declaration of a general strike on May 1.
“The accused are being investigated for extremely serious offenses including: public incitement to commit crimes, criminal association, terrorism, financing terrorism, attacks on transportation security, [and] attacks on public services,” reported Drop Site.
The mass mobilization has included dozens of road blockades across the country as the union and other groups have demanded