Bolivia's President Urges Faster UN Action Against Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking

At the United Nations General Assembly, Bolivia's President Rodrigo Paz called for a more rapid and unified international effort to combat organized crime and drug trafficking, arguing that criminal groups now have resources that let them act faster than states. He tied the urgency to a recent internal upheaval that left the nation with blocked roads for 53 days, halted access to health and schooling, and resulted in more than 20 fatalities, which he attributed to financing by narco-terrorist networks.

Paz distinguished these violent actors from legitimate social protests and emphasized Bolivia's response through dialogue rather than force. He also noted that Bolivia's foreign reserves have risen from $51 million to about $1.2 billion in his first ten months, with a target of $4 billion by year-end, and urged investment in the country's lithium, copper and tin sectors while avoiding a raw-material-export model. Concluding, he urged the UN to become a steadfast arena for defending democracies and fighting organized crime.