Gerardo Salluco is preparing to spend his second night in a long line of buses awaiting the opening of a fuel-empty service station guarded by two soldiers.
This scene has become commonplace, reflecting a Bolivia in crisis, lacking fuel and foreign currency for a year.
Halving of Gas Exports Between 2013 and 2022
The era of the “economic miracle,” with the nationalization of the gas industry in 2006 by the government of socialist President Evo Morales (2006-2019) generating subsidies for the state, is over.
Due to a lack of investment in exploration, gas is no longer the engine of the economy, and lithium, a key resource in the transition to clean energy, of which Bolivia has enormous reserves along with neighboring Argentina and Chile, has not replaced it.
In 2022, gas exports were only half of those in 2013, a record year.
Fuel is imported, and the country has long been dipping into its dollar reserves to maintain subsidies to keep it affordable and buy social peace.
Despite queues, the state-owned oil company YPBF says supply “is guaranteed”. According to it, the problem largely stems from rumors of shortages circulating on social media, generating “excess demand” for fuel.
“In a Bad Spot”
The day is about to end, and Gerardo Salluco in his bus still hopes the line will finally move. “There is no diesel,” complains the 49-year-old driver who transports passengers between Bolivia and Chile.
“It’s exhausting to wait because suddenly they start selling, so you have to be attentive,” says Mr. Salluco, who judges his country “in a bad spot, there’s no denying it.”
The same scene plays out in El Alto, a neighboring city of La Paz and a political stronghold of the ruling left, where Claudio Laura has also stopped his tanker truck in a long line of vehicles leading to an out-of-stock gas station.
“I arrived at four o’clock, and I’m set to sleep here tonight,” explains the 33-year-old driver, who imports fuel from Peru or Chile but also has an empty tank.
The freight carriers’ union last week called for a road blockade to protest the shortage, which the government managed to defuse.
“Creating a Diversion”
Faced with declining gas revenues, Bolivia has also had to inject foreign currency into its financial system and is seeing its nest egg dwindle. Ten years ago, the state had a cash balance of $15.122 billion, which fell to $1.796 billion last month.
The dollar, used to pay for imports, has become a rare commodity. The Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB) has set its rate at 6.96 bolivianos, but on the black market, the greenback is trading 30% higher. Banks do not allow withdrawals of more than $100 per day.
Minerva Ruelas, 27, who works in radiology equipment maintenance, is waiting in front of a shipping company’s office to pay one of her foreign suppliers with the dollars she managed to gather. “For now, I just want to get the cargo I need shipped,” she says.
Political Conflict and Uncertainty
In addition to its economic situation, the country is mired in a political conflict between Messrs. Arce and Morales, both seeking the nomination of the dominant party, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), for the 2025 presidential election.
And the attempted military coup against President Arce on Wednesday, which Mr. Morales denounces as a “self-coup,” does not reassure Bolivians about the country’s direction. “It’s to create a diversion,” says Gerardo Salluco at the wheel of his fuel-empty bus, not knowing which theory to trust: “But the reality is that there are no dollars, no diesel, and we have to queue.”