Miners blamed for minister’s murder
Bolivian authorities accused the president of a mining federation and two of his top officials of the killing of deputy interior minister Rodolfo Illanes amid a bitter strike, officials said yesterday.
Illanes was kidnapped and beaten to death by striking mine workers on Friday after to going to the town of Panduro, 130 kilometres south of La Paz, to mediate in the dispute over mining laws and dwindling pay.
Three protesters have been killed in clashes with riot police, stoking tensions. The striking miners had armed themselves with dynamite and seized several highways, stranding thousands of vehicles and passengers.
Bolivia’s Attorney General’s Office has detained 40 miners, among them protest leader Carlos Mamani, president of the National Federation of Mining Cooperatives of Bolivia. Yesterday, Mamani and two other federation officials were accused by the Public Ministry in Illanes’ death.
An autopsy found Illanes died from trauma to the brain and thorax.
The blockaded highway in Panduro was clear on Saturday as the miners returned to their camps. A funeral Mass was held for Illanes in La Paz.
Bolivia’s informal miners number about 100,000 and work in selfmanaged cooperatives producing primarily zinc, tin, silver and gold.
They want to be able to associate with private companies, which promise to put more cash in their pockets, but are currently prohibited from doing so.
The government argues that if the miners associate with multinational companies they will no longer be co-operatives.
Bolivia has seen increased social agitation as a financial slowdown hit an economy heavily dependent on natural gas and minerals, which account for over 70 per cent of foreign export sales.