The streets of La Paz are once again a theatre of unrest as anti-government demonstrators clash with police, but this is not merely a domestic political squabble. From a strategic threat perspective, the timing and intensity of these protests suggest a calculated operation to destabilise the Bolivian state, likely with external backing. The crowds are not spontaneous; they are a vector for a larger geopolitical gambit.
The Bolivian security forces, already stretched thin, are being forced into a reactive posture, expending valuable resources on crowd control rather than border security and counter-intelligence. This is a classic asymmetric pressure tactic, designed to force the government into a strategic pivot, possibly to divert attention from critical infrastructure vulnerabilities or ongoing military operations. The intelligence failure here is either a deliberate blind eye or a profound lack of collection capability.
Either way, the situation is ripe for exploitation by hostile state actors. The hardware on display is telling: police using non-lethal measures, but the protesters appear coordinated, using encrypted messaging and signal-jamming devices in some pockets. This is not a protest; it is a battlefield preparation.
