This will be the most expensive Christmas in the last 16 years for Bolivian families. With a Consumer Price Index that has climbed to 8.82% until November of this year, households see that their income is insufficient to spend a Christmas Eve similar to last year. A visit to any market allows you to realize how much more expensive food has become. Chicken, which a month ago cost Bs 13, is now offered at Bs 24 (practically double); Not to mention the prices of beef and pork. This made people redo their plans and choose to replace today’s dinner products.
The real economy is the one that manifests itself in the pockets of the heads of households. And it is on these dates when it becomes evident that there are deep inequalities in society. Without it being Christmas, there are neighborhoods where people prepare common pots to feed themselves, while in the markets and in the neighborhoods it is no longer strange to find those who rescue vegetables and other products from the garbage.
In return, President Luis Arce blames everyone for the “attacks” he receives that seek to “destabilize” him. You just have to visit the most remote neighborhoods to ask how to moderately maintain the quality of life. What is common in all social strata is the decision to emigrate, to look in other countries for the hope of better days or the hope of raising money to pay suffocating debts. Even so, everything is temporary and the population waits for the wind to change in 2025, so that certainty returns.
