AL HAYAT - Bolivia protests: president warns 'narcoterrorists' days numbered

For weeks protestors have marched and erected roadblocks, bringing Bolivia to a near standstill -- and pushing up food and fuel prices and causing shortages of basic goods.

Riot police have fired tear gas in attempts to clear the blockades, but have been forced to pull back under gunfire that has wounded several officers.

Protesters hurled stones and burned tires and at least 14 civilians were also injured, the ombudsman's office said.

The protestors are demanding that US-backed conservative President Rodrigo Paz's fledgling government tackle a deep economic crisis, while others have demanded that he step down.

Amping up his rhetoric Monday, Paz blamed "narcoterrorists" for the unrest and warned their "days are numbered".

He backed a law paving the way for a state of emergency which would authorize military deployment to repress the movement and clear the blockades.

Paz has suggested that former president Evo Morales and his coca-growing supporters are pushing protests to destabilize his government, Bolivia's first conservative administration in two decades.

"Our security is put at risk when narco‑terrorism, and the priorities of certain actors, are not aligned with our democracy, our constitution," he said.

"They put their own interests above those of Bolivian society."

Pro-business Paz took office in November promising to resolve the country's worst economic crisis in decades, but his unpopular economic reforms and failure to respond to social demands have roused public ire.

Morales -- in hiding from charges related to his relationship with a teen with whom he allegedly fathered a child -- is accused of fomenting the unrest.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump's new Shield of the Americas alliance -- an anti-cartel coalition that includes pro-US administrations in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile among other countries -- gave Paz its unequivocal backing.

A.Rowais--al-Hayat