Shrinking Bread, Growing Crisis: How Bolivia’s Failed Subsidies Foretell Economic Collapse

In Bolivia’s capital, La Paz, a humble loaf of government-subsidized bread barely weighs 60 grams—half its size just two years ago. Known locally as “pan de batalla” or “battle bread,” this shrinking staple tells a larger story of economic decay under decades of socialist mismanagement.Hardworking Bolivians like baker Juan de Dios Castillo are trapped in a punishing system: forced to sell bread at fixed prices far below market costs while inflation soars and flour imports dwindle due to an acute shortage of foreign currency. The result? Bakery shelves emptying, long lines forming, and families forced to buy multiple tiny rolls...