Hundreds of tourists from around the world are stranded in Bolivia by the unrest that is gripping the country and had caused the closure of its main airport at La Paz.
As reported by News From Abroad, the airport, in the nearby city of El Alto, was closed to commercial flights last weekend and much of La Paz has been paralysed by demonstrations and rioting that has seen dozens of people killed.
Now, according to news reports, Brazil has already deployed two air force planes to rescue some 150 tourists, but there are hundreds more from the United States, Australia and Europe still stranded. Embassies from around the world have even been telling their nationals not to try to reach the airport because El Alto has been the scene of some of the worst violence.
In addition to the airport being closed, many of the country’s main transport routes are now impassable because of the violence, and there are food shortages being reported in La Paz.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Offic website, at www.fco.gov.uk/travel, warns: “Visitors should not travel to the western area of Bolivia (i.e. La Paz, and across the Antiplano from La Paz westwards – in particular up to Lake Titicaca, the Peruvian border, Oruro and the Chilean border, and from La Paz to the Yungas, and Sorata).”
