Lamenting the “hatred, resentment, [and] intolerance that grows and takes over our streets,” Bolivia’s bishops appealed for a “true and sincere desire to resolve problems in a spirit of peace, understanding and serene brotherhood.”

Parts of the nation have been gripped by protests over the past month. Encyclopaedia Britannica describes Luis Arce, the nation’s president since 2020, as a “passionate socialist with an abiding affinity for legendary revolutionary Che Guevara.”