Belford Guthrié presides over the National Association of Evangelicals of Bolivia. Through the extensive network of churches with which he is connected, he has closely monitored the violent protests that have sought to destabilize Rodrigo Paz’s government over the past few days.

Evo Morales — the former president, a fugitive from justice, and one of the primary instigators of the unrest — demanded this Sunday that Paz call for new elections within 90 days. With only six months in power, the right-wing president faces an economic crisis following nearly 20 years of rule by the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS).

Guthrie, who resides in Santa Cruz — Bolivia’s second-largest city — believes that the funding for the unrest originates from the illicit drug trade, the epicenter of which lies in the region’s vast coca leaf plantations.

What role does drug money play in the type of unrest we have witnessed in Bolivia since last week?

It is distressing to see videos circulating that show minibuses loaded with cash departing from the Chapare region to pay the marchers.

With utter brazenness, the financiers boast about their activities by uploading videos to TikTok, displaying the large sums of money being circulated to fund the protesters. They claim there is plenty of money — enough to ensure the protesters do not tire — and vow to continue paying until the current government is ousted.

Undoubtedly, this money originates from the drug labs located deep within the Chapare region. While a select few provide funding using these illicit proceeds, the people living in the Chapare are left intimidated and terrified that their relatives will be killed if they refuse to obey orders to join the marches.

Many innocent people no longer wish to live this way, yet they continue to join the marches — often without even knowing the cause — simply to save the lives of their family members, who are effectively held hostage while others go out to protest.

How would you describe the evolution of Evo Morales’s influence on actual Bolivian politics since he fled the country following the 2019 elections? Does he still hold power today?

Evo Morales is a man who, with great patience, managed to slowly build a political empire over the course of decades. Although — compared to the total Bolivian population — his adherents number only a few thousand, they are fanatically devoted. Many of them have declared that they are willing to give even their lives for their leader.

What they fail to understand is that this leader never actually improved their standard of living. When he was president, he bought their loyalty with two paltry annual bonuses, and the poor, uneducated people felt privileged to receive that total of 400 bolivianos ($58 USD at the current exchange rate) — as if that sum were enough to sustain them for an entire year.

Morales no longer possesses any power whatsoever, politically speaking. However, I believe there are other forces at play: by engaging in sorcery, he holds many people in thrall to his own selfish desires. He survives solely through his influence over the impoverished people of the El Chapare region.

Do you believe this is an attempted coup by Morales and the unions that follow him?

Definitely. Moreover, audio recordings and videos are circulating that expose the plan by Evo and his henchmen to overthrow the constitutionally and democratically elected government.

We have seen blockades and demonstrations in the capital city, La Paz, but what is the situation like in the rest of the country?

The rest of the country is experiencing a tense calm, yet merchants and business owners are suffering significant losses. Not only are their goods unable to reach the city of La Paz, but protesters have also begun blocking the outskirts of Cochabamba and the borders with Santa Cruz, preventing trucks carrying essential household goods and fuel from passing through.

Now, other provinces have begun to rise up, organizing protest marches against the blockades and the demonstrators themselves.

Although Bolivia’s national airline, BOA, has made flights available at affordable rates to transport food to La Paz, this has caused an overload on flights — delaying them by up to four hours and, at times, even leading to cancellations due to excess weight, as well as the fact that the El Alto International Airport remains blockaded.

What role is the Church playing to help alleviate the situation?

The government has requested assistance from both the Catholic and Evangelical churches to establish a humanitarian corridor. However, violent groups have radicalized their blockade tactics; during the protests, they have gone so far as to physically assault individuals attempting to deliver food to family members who currently lack access to provisions.

In what other ways do these unrests affect the daily lives of ordinary citizens?

We live not only with the anguish of watching our compatriots in La Paz suffer, but many of us across the country also feel a sense of helplessness — frustrated that we cannot do more to help. We feel that the government’s deafening silence leaves the rest of the population feeling abandoned and deprived of the possibility of achieving the peace we have sought so desperately for decades.

The general population is gripped by a sense of desperation and a deep anxiety that this unrest could spread to the rest of the country. Already, self-organized indigenous groups, rather than helping to restore peace, have begun to turn against one another, thereby exacerbating the problem