New traffic restrictions in the heart of La Paz sparked a transit strike and demonstrations that paralyzed the city center Aug. 29. Bus drivers set up roadblocks and marchers blocked traffic while demanding that the new law be lifted. The plan prohibits vehicles from entering the historic downtown area one day a week based on their license numbers. Authorities insisted the ordinance would be enforced, but drivers protested that it would cause them to lose a day’s pay every week. Further demonstrations are possible. In other transportation news, the so-called “road of death,” which plummets from the Andes to the Amazon and is touted in guidebooks as “the most dangerous road in the world,” claimed another 34 people when a bus slid off the road Sept. 2. The death toll for the year has now reached 80. The road has become a tourist attraction for mountain bikers looking for extreme challenges.
