During August 2022, coca growers in the Bolivian capital, La Paz, clashed repeatedly with police forces regarding the opening of an illegal coca market allegedly supported by the government. What started out as protest marches rapidly escalated into violent clashes incorporating the use of commercial explosives by the protestors, some with added metal fragmentation, used as thrown IEDs against police forces, with other IEDs fired from improvised mobile launchers. Police forces preventing the protestors from accessing the illegal market responded with tear gas for riot control. Some of these canisters have been re-used as IED casings by the protestors, in addition to soda cans and other miscellaneous items. The commercial explosives employed by the protestors are extremely dangerous, especially when fragmentation and/or a metal casing is added. An example of the lethality of these IEDs was demonstrated in video documentation of a ‘work accident’ when an IED initiated in the hands of a protestor, as well as documentation of numerous injuries suffered by police officers.
Get the full report
If you would like to get the full report, leave your details in the form below.
