To a great extent, thanks to now President, Evo Morales, the Bolivian people have learned to love demonstrations !
Culturally, group gatherings of all kinds are extremely important here – they are often planned and looked forward to far in advance and frequently take on the energy of festivals and parties. 
President Morales, especially before he became President, was instrumental in harnessing this Bolivian love of gathering and using it as a political weapon to help topple the two Presidents before him.
What is it they say about pay back . . . ?
Bolivia is culturally and now politically divided into two main areas: the Media Luna (or crescent) and the Orient. 
The Media Luna consists of the Departments of Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca, Pando, Beni, and Tarija. 
And the Orient consists of the remaining four Departments: La Paz, Cochabamba, Potosi, and Oruro. Exacerbating this divide are very strong ethnic differences. Generally speaking those from the Orient are known as ‘Coyas’ and those from the Media Luna are known as ‘Cambas’. 
You would be hard pressed to find a harsher pejorative term than calling someone a Coya if you are in the Media Luna. It’s akin to throwing around the “N” word in the US. Thankfully, Tarijenos are neither Coya nor Camba, but they do agree politically with the Media Luna’s goals.
Think of ‘Departments’ as US States – each with their own culture, food, and preferred way of doing things.
At the moment, Bolivia is in the midst of writing it’s second constitution.But political instability and strife is nothing new.
Between 1825 and 1982 Bolivians suffered 188 Coup d’etats which immediately earned them a place in the Guinness Book of World Records 
. 
Unfortunately, there are a few hang-ups in the current constitutional debate; namely that the Media Luna is demanding much more autonomy to run their departments, which the Orient is loath to give. President Morales hails from the Orient as does the vast majority of his political support.
If President Morales’ political party, MAS, is able to gain a two-thirds majority within the constitutional assembly, his party will be able to deny the Media Luna their wish for more autonomy.
Plenty is at stake, most notably the natural gas and mineral reserves found in the Media Luna.
Why the big fight ? Why can’t everyone share ?
Historically, the Orient benefited greatly from the mines and other resources in their region. In Potosi for example, in 1545 the extensive silver mines found and excavated made Bolivia home to the largest single silver source in the world. Thus, Potosi entered a three century boom.
The argument goes that Potosi and the rest of the Orient benefited greatly from the resources found in their region in the past, without sharing the wealth. Santa Cruz, Tarija and the rest of the Media Luna were little more than backwater regions until recently (more or less the last thirty to forty years). Therefore, the Media Luna now believes they should get the opportunity to grow and benefit from their own windfalls.
The pictures 
you see throughout this piece are from recent demonstrations in Tarija agitating for more autonomy. As you can see below, the Tarijenos aren’t afraid of going to bat for what they believe are their rights.
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