Bolivia President Rodrigo Paz pledges 50% salary cut for himself and cabinet

A pledge to halve the pay of Bolivia’s top officials landed in the middle of a deepening fiscal and political storm on Sunday, as President Rodrigo Paz Pereira sought to project austerity and resolve from the country’s constitutional capital of Sucre. Speaking on May 25, Paz said he would cut his own salary by 50% and reduce the salaries of his cabinet ministers by the same amount, casting the move as a visible personal sacrifice meant to bolster confidence in his government’s approach. ^[2]

Paz framed the salary reductions as proof of the administration’s “commitment to the country,” arguing that leaders should shoulder the burden alongside citizens as the government pursues broader belt-tightening. The president also defended wider spending cuts and reductions to fuel subsidies, describing them as necessary steps to stabilize public finances amid the crisis, even as such measures risk inflaming public anger over rising living costs. ^[1]

The announcement comes after a tense week of street unrest that has rattled the government’s grip on power. On May 18 and again on May 22, anti-government marches escalated into clashes in La Paz, with protesters hurling sticks and stones and police responding with tear gas, while miners detonated dynamite in confrontations that intensified international worries about instability and even a potential coup. ^[2]