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riversedge

(81,525 posts)
Mon May 18, 2026, 09:25 AM 8 hrs ago

THE U.S. 🇺🇸 BACKED PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA 🇧🇴 HAS FLED THE COUNTRY

I did a quick google search and nothing recent turned up.
But see Common dreams story below from a few days ago.



🅺🅴🅻🅻🆈 KarmaQueen reposted
.
@LBGamestips
THE U.S. 🇺🇸 BACKED PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA 🇧🇴 HAS FLED THE COUNTRY

This is coming after miners stormed the government house to seized him after an agreement he had with the U.S. was made public by one of his officials but he was nowhere to be found in the govt house.

The whereabouts of Rodrigo Paz are unknown.






www.commondreams.org/news/bolivia...

Charles Keener (@charleskeener.bsky.social) 2026-05-16T01:30:25.943Z





Miles and Miles of Protest in Bolivia as Miners and Unions March Against Privatization and Low Wages
Peasants’ unions and other groups are protesting a law that they say would allow corporate control of small farmers’ land, as well as fuel shortages and a low minimum wage.


https://www.commondreams.org/news/bolivia-protests


Julia Conley
May 14, 2026

An economic crisis and the repeal of a crucial gas subsidy, fuel shortages, and a law that opponents say will allow the encroachment of corporate interests on Indigenous and peasant lands are among the central concerns of thousands of miners and other workers who have joined a march from Bolivia’s northern Amazon territories to La Paz, with a major miners union in the capital joining the protest on Wednesday.

The Federation of Mining Cooperatives of La Paz and an influential peasant union met land workers and Indigenous representatives this week as they arrived in the capital after having marched 1,100 kilometers (683 miles) “for over 20 days from the tropics into freezing high-altitude terrain, many wearing nothing more substantial on their feet than plastic sandals,” as Olivia Arigho-Stiles reported at Jacobin.


At least 50 marchers required medical treatment last week for exhaustion, dehydration, and other ailments, but the unions are showing no sign of ending the general strike that was begun by Bolivian Workers’ Central (COB), with the mass mobilization also including at least 70 road blockades around the country, according to the Bolivia Highway Association.

TeleSUR reported that the entry of the miners union signified “a substantial increase in pressure” on right-wing President Rodrigo Paz, whose resignation some workers’ organizations are calling for.

The Federation of Mining Cooperatives joined the ongoing marches and protests after Paz failed to attend a scheduled dialogue. Miners have been alarmed by the scarcity of fuel, “a dire shortage of essential explosive material, and significant delays in the liberation of new areas designated for mining exploitation,” reported TeleSUR. ........................


17 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
THE U.S. 🇺🇸 BACKED PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA 🇧🇴 HAS FLED THE COUNTRY (Original Post) riversedge 8 hrs ago OP
K & R for visibility malaise 8 hrs ago #1
Everything Krasnov touches dies, gab13by13 8 hrs ago #2
A couple of recent related news articles erronis 7 hrs ago #3
+1 dalton99a 7 hrs ago #4
They might not be able to find Paz, but they can sure find his enablers. harumph 7 hrs ago #5
He's probably in Florida. dalton99a 7 hrs ago #7
"President of Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz, thank you very much. Great person." - Trump, March 2026 dalton99a 7 hrs ago #6
I bet that today the idiot never met the guy Norbert 6 hrs ago #9
kiss of death paleotn 6 hrs ago #10
Maybe some of those Bolivian miners might be interested in becoming Democrats? FakeNoose 6 hrs ago #8
Fuckin A LuvLoogie 5 hrs ago #11
Power to the people!!!! mountain grammy 5 hrs ago #12
Dulles, Nixon, CIA and the NAZIs did the number on Bolivia Kid Berwyn 4 hrs ago #13
The incumbent party MAS ... reACTIONary 4 hrs ago #14
Bolivians leading the way Mysterian 4 hrs ago #15
Have we a source for "fled the country" beyond "LBGamestips"? muriel_volestrangler 3 hrs ago #16
"Common Dreams" eh? EX500rider 3 hrs ago #17

gab13by13

(32,761 posts)
2. Everything Krasnov touches dies,
Mon May 18, 2026, 09:33 AM
8 hrs ago

The DNC needs to think outside the box, we need to nominate the best fighters. Policy issues won't matter in a dictatorship.

harumph

(3,413 posts)
5. They might not be able to find Paz, but they can sure find his enablers.
Mon May 18, 2026, 11:06 AM
7 hrs ago

...

you don't allow an infection to fester.

dalton99a

(95,240 posts)
6. "President of Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz, thank you very much. Great person." - Trump, March 2026
Mon May 18, 2026, 11:10 AM
7 hrs ago

FakeNoose

(42,391 posts)
8. Maybe some of those Bolivian miners might be interested in becoming Democrats?
Mon May 18, 2026, 11:14 AM
6 hrs ago

They seem to have things figured out.

Kid Berwyn

(25,073 posts)
13. Dulles, Nixon, CIA and the NAZIs did the number on Bolivia
Mon May 18, 2026, 01:31 PM
4 hrs ago


The second life of Klaus Barbie: A Nazi war criminal's rise in Bolivia

After fleeing Europe, the notorious "Butcher of Lyon" lived undisturbed in Bolivia for a quarter of a century.
Military generals used his knowledge to combat left-wing opposition.


by Werner J. Marti
NZZ, July 2, 2025

Summary

After World War II, Klaus Barbie, former head of the Gestapo in Lyon, managed to escape to Bolivia, where he served military regimes and drug lords.

He assisted the Bolivian dictatorship in their repression campaign against the communist opposition, brokered arms deals, and played a key role in the violent 1980 coup that brought the drug mafia to power.

After the fall of the military dictatorship, Barbie was arrested in 1983, extradited to France, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Excerpt...

When the revolutionary government was overthrown in a military coup in 1964, new opportunities arose for Barbie. He managed to curry favor with the new government of General René Barrientos, which had dedicated itself to the fight against communism. Suddenly, Barbie's experience with combating the French Resistance was regarded as a useful tool in the government's fight against communist infiltration. He became an official military adviser on counterinsurgency, even receiving a Bolivian diplomatic passport.

The presence of radical left-wing forces among the revolutionaries had made the country a target for international communist infiltration. Fidel Castro, who had risen to power in Cuba in 1959, considered the troubled Bolivia a suitable starting point for spreading his revolution throughout South America. In early 1966, he sent Che Guevara to Bolivia with a small group of men, where they were tasked with establishing a guerrilla movement among local farmers. The operation failed, however: The group was wiped out and Che Guevara was shot while in captivity in October 1967. Barbie likely played a role behind the scenes.

Employee of the German intelligence service

In May 1966, Barbie was even recruited by the German foreign intelligence service BND, which, in the context of the Cold War, was now extending its reach to Latin America. Under the codename «Adler,» (eagle) he reported on the development of left-wing forces in Bolivia. Although the Germans were seemingly unaware of his true identity, they did not make any particular effort to inquire about his personal background either. When they wanted to bring him to Germany for training in late 1966 and Barbie refused to travel there, suspicions arose about his past. The BND then considered further cooperation too risky and terminated their working relationship with Barbie without providing any further details.

Starting in 1966, Barbie became involved in the arms trade, acting as the trading company Merex's representative in Bolivia. The company, owned by former Waffen-SS officer Gerhard Mertins, also worked with the BND to export weapons that the German armed forces no longer needed. Barbie further arranged the delivery of Austrian Steyr-Daimler-Puch tanks, which were later used in the military coup of 1980.

Source: https://www.nzz.ch/english/the-second-life-of-klaus-barbie-a-nazi-war-criminals-rise-in-bolivia-ld.1891151

Evil on behalf of the Ownership Class by Capitalism's Invisible Army.

reACTIONary

(7,288 posts)
14. The incumbent party MAS ...
Mon May 18, 2026, 01:34 PM
4 hrs ago

suffered near total annihilation, ending its two decades of dominance, retaining only two seats in the Chamber of Deputies and losing all seats in the Senate. They also lost the presidency.

Whether Rodrigo Paz of the Christian Democratic Party did or did not have Trump's backing, he did have the electoral support of the Bolivian people.

Mysterian

(6,623 posts)
15. Bolivians leading the way
Mon May 18, 2026, 01:40 PM
4 hrs ago


Will the oppressed lower income classes in the USA ever revolt against the rule of plutocrat billionaires?

muriel_volestrangler

(106,590 posts)
16. Have we a source for "fled the country" beyond "LBGamestips"?
Mon May 18, 2026, 02:42 PM
3 hrs ago

Someone in Bolivia would be preferable. In Spanish is fine.

EX500rider

(12,770 posts)
17. "Common Dreams" eh?
Mon May 18, 2026, 02:54 PM
3 hrs ago
No, Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz Pereira has not fled the country, despite recent unverified claims circulating on social media. As of May 18, 2026, President Paz remains in office and continues to lead the government amid intense national protests and civil unrest.

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