Bolivia's Paz bets on wearing down protests and holds off deploying the army

Bolivia's government has opted to wear down the social protests that have shaken the country for about six weeks, rather than resort to a hard line. President Rodrigo Paz promulgated a law regulating states of exception in early June, but has so far not ordered the deployment of the Armed Forces to clear the roads, leaning instead toward exhausting the protesters and dismantling the movements demanding his resignation through the detention or persuasion of their leaders. "The new Bolivia will be built with dialogue, without giving way to violence," said presidential spokesman José Luis Gálvez.