Violence in Bolivia's mines

[Tekun]

Bolivia mining violence quelled, minister replaced
Fri Oct 6, 2006 9:30pm ET
By Eduardo Garcia


HUANUNI, Bolivia (Reuters) - A deadly dynamite battle between rival groups of Bolivian miners ended in a truce on Friday evening and President Evo Morales fired his mining minister, who was criticized for not anticipating the violence.

The official death toll rose to 16, after state-employed miners and members of independent mining cooperatives fought with dynamite, sticks and stones on Thursday and part of Friday at the Huanuni mine, one of the world's largest tin mines.

More than 60 people were wounded in the fighting in the impoverished town of Huanuni in the desolate, dusty Andes southeast of La Paz, before hundreds of riot police carrying batons and shields arrived to quell the fighting.


The violence posed a new challenge to the leftist Morales, leaving him caught between two groups whose political support helped lift him to power last year.

The violence started after miners from cooperatives stormed the mine on Thursday demanding larger concessions to exploit tin ore from the mine, in which both state-employed miners and independent cooperatives work.

Opposition lawmakers called for the removal of Minister Walter Villaroel, and Morales reacted, replacing him with Guillermo Dalence, who was sworn in on Friday night in a televised ceremony.

Police, government and church officials negotiated with both sides. "We're carrying out a job of persuasion," said National Police Commissioner Isaac Pimentel.

Earlier on Friday, hundreds of independent miners in hard hats, many crouched in the rocky hillsides overlooking Huanuni, tossed lit dynamite sticks at rival workers. Continued...

Some packed dynamite into tires, which they rolled down to explode near state-employed miners guarding mine entrances.

The government announced the hundreds of police officers it sent to the area would not carry lethal weapons.

Analysts and traders said tin prices could jump sharply as supplies are squeezed by the violence in Bolivia and in Indonesia, where riots broke out after police closed down four illegal smelters this week.

'DON'T EVEN HAVE A WHEELBARROW'


State-employed workers complain that while they earn a monthly wage, workers from the independent cooperatives are paid according to the amount of ore they extract, frequently earning more than mine staff.

"They are sucking the mine dry," said Eliaterio Ancasi, 54, a worker at the state-controlled mining company, COMIBOL. "Within a month many of them have a car, while most of the state workers don't even have a wheelbarrow."

Some 1,200 state-employed miners and 4,000 independent miners work at Huanuni, which produces 10,000 tonnes of tin a year, slightly more than half Bolivia's total production.

Once a pillar of the economy in South America's poorest country, the mining industry shriveled during the 1980s as pits were closed and workers were let go amid an economic crisis and sagging international prices for minerals.

As prices rebounded and climbed in the 1990s, the laid-off miners started working the idle mines themselves and eventually formed powerful independent cooperatives now fighting for more control over Bolivia's rich minerals.

Morales has said he wants to revive the industry but has not announced a formal plan to do so.

(Additional reporting by Carlos Quiroga in La Paz)

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.



Another challenge for the "socialist" Morales
I think that solving this problem, considering it affects the working class in Bolivia,
should have been top priority for the government
But then again, what can we expect from social-democrats?
This crisis has caused a great rift between the working class miners down there, thus making any type of worker's uprising difficult

[Rawthentic]

Yeah, Morales' "socialism" is sure nothing more than social reformism. Like I said, the sprouting of leftist governments in Latin America is part of its Age of Reform, not revolution. Comparing Bolivia to Mexico, Obrador seems to be taking the same path as Morales (kinda), while the Oaxaca Commune is under way and spreading.

[chebol]

The First Coup Against Evo Morales is Planned for Wednesday October 11

Heinz Dieterich, October 8, 2006

Reliable sources from high up in the Bolivian government, who asked to remain anonymous, have revealed that the first attempt at a coup against Evo Morales is planned for this Wednesday, October 11. The use of snipers in the Huanuni massacre, that caused 7 deaths, indicates the participation of coup plotters in the miner’s dispute. Chilean military figures will be involved in the conspiracy.

Looking for killer Generals

A few weeks ago, officials from the Bolivian police approached generals from the Armed Forces of Bolivia (FAB), investigating their willingness to carry out a coup together. Just as it happened in the Chilean case with the constitutionalist General Rene Schneider, and in Venezuela with General Raul Baduel, in Bolivia there was also a military figure key to the success of the uprising, who refused to participate and informed the President. Now the preparations continue but without him. And the announcements on the radio continue to praise the “patriotic army that killed Che Guevara and the subversion”.

Military figures never carry out a coup out of thin air, my friend General Alberto Mueller Rojas, nowadays a member of the Presidential General Staff of Hugo Chavez, told me seven years ago. It is this logic that we can see currently developing in Bolivia. A whole conspiratorial bloc made up of different social and state forces is working in an accelerated manner to finish off president Evo Morales.

Rest at BoliviaRising (http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/)

[chebol]

BOLIVIA: Solidarity urged for extradition campaign

Federico Fuentes

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly on September 19, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales, said that previous Bolivian governments had “massacred people that struggled for their economic demands, for their natural resources” and that “perpetrators of genocide, corrupt criminals, escape in order to live in the United States”.

Morales was specifically referring to former Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and two of his ministers — Carlos Sanchez Berzain and Jorge Berindoague — who fled Bolivia after being overthrown in the October 2003 uprising during which 67 people were killed by the police and military.

The uprising resulted from the attempt of the neoliberal government to sell Bolivia’s gas cheaply to the US. Seeing this as a continuation of the plunder of Bolivia’s natural resources, workers, peasants and indigenous people rose up and continued demonstrating for over two weeks until “Goni” was forced to flee the country via helicopter on October 17.

Morales said: “I ask with a great deal of respect, expel these perpetrators of genocide, criminals, corrupt ones that come to live here [in the US] ... I believe that no country, no head of state can protect, hide delinquents, the perpetrators of genocide.”

A Bolivian delegation arrived in Washington on September 27 to push the government’s case. In a press advisory, the delegation explained that it would be “comprised of Juan Patricio Mamani Quispe [the president of the Association of the Family Members of Those Killed in the Gas War] and Rogelio Mayta [the attorney representing the family members of those killed]”. The delegation would “meet with government officials at the U.S. State and Justice Departments, as well as key congressional leaders, to urge that U.S. officials fulfill this appeal from the Bolivian government which was officially received by the U.S. State Department on June 22, 2005”.

“To date, the U.S. government has failed to notify the three men [of the request for their extradition], and has failed to respond to this official request. The matter is a critical one for the Bolivian people, as the trial cannot proceed without formal notification of Sanchez de Lozada, Sanchez Berzain and Berindoague, all of whom currently reside in the U.S. since fleeing Bolivia in October 2003.”

As part of this campaign an important mobilisation is being held in Bolivia on October 17. According to the Altena Press Agency, a meeting in the offices of Human Rights in El Alto strengthened the campaign: The Association of the Family Members of those Killed in the Gas War was joined by representatives from the Bolivian Workers Central (COB), the Regional Workers Central of Bolivia (COR), the Federation of Neighbourhood Committees of El Alto (FEJUVE) and the United Confederation of Bolivian Campesino Workers (CSUTCB) in a new committee. They will march onto La Paz on October 17 demanding the jailing of “Goni”.

Internationally, a number of Bolivian solidarity groups will also be organising events on the day. The Bolivian Solidarity Network, set up by foreigners residing in Bolivia, is helping to coordinate the day.

Speaking on the US Democracy Now radio show, Morales pleaded: “I want to take advantage of this opportunity to call on the people of the United States to help us in our efforts to extradite [these] people who practiced genocide, who were corrupt ... and who today are free here in the United States.

“A government that says it fights against terrorism, for human rights, against corruption, it’s not conceivable that [these people] would still be here. So we ask the people, the government and all the institutions of human rights to help with this.”

From Green Left Weekly (http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/686/686p18b.htm), October 11, 2006.

[Tekun]

Hmm, interesting since no articles I could find regarding the actions in Huanuni even mention the use of snipers...the only one that mentions such thing is that blog of yours from this Heinz Dieterich fellow, who received his info from "reliable government sources"
Don't u think that since Morales' government knew something about a coup, they would of announced it? Or publicized it? Or denounced it?
But u go ahead and defend Morales

BTW: The use of snipers does not refute the reality which is that miners in Bolivia are divided and have now begun to fight amongst themselves due to the government's failure and negligence

[chebol]

Firstly, it's not my blog.

Secondly, I posted the Dieterich article to contribute to the discussion and debate around this issue, not because I necessarily agree with it. "This Heinz Dieterich fellow" also happens to be an advisor to Chavez, so chances are he might know a thing or two that just happen not to be in the bourgeois press.

Thirdly, not having the time to contribute my opinion on the Huanuni issue in full right now, I'm going to chuck this in the mix: You repeatedly blame Morales for the "crisis", yet you appear to have no deeper analysis of what's going on in Bolivia, either within the MAS, the COB, amongst the miners, or elsewhere. You simply apply a veneer of sectarianism. I have said time and again that i do not necessarily support everything that Morales or the MAS do, although so far, given the current limitations of the Bolivian proletarian leadership (including their own sectarianism), I tend to support most of what the MAS have done (but certainly not all). I am not an apologist for the MAS. Your approach, however, is to quickly label anyone that doesn't automatically label Morales as a class-traitor a MAS apologist/ social reformist/ etc.

A question - what is your porition on the violence between the state miners and the co-operativists? What do you think of the MAS government's support for the cooperativist position? Have you read their (the miners') message to the world? What about the suggestions of nationalising the mines (which has only been hinted at by Morales, so no great expectations)? In the context of the current spat, what do you think should be done to resolve the crisis? And how should the social movements (which are in fact the backbone of the MAS) radicalise the government and/ or their membership to either force the government hand or force them out?

Do you have any ideas, or are you simply going to keep on spouting anti-Morales rhetoric in order to feel good about yourself?

[Janus]

Hm...rival factions are fighting one another?

I had thought that they were recently battling for better conditions, wages, etc.

[chebol]

Coup rumours in Bolivia? (http://democracyctr.org/blog/)
Bolivian mining cooperatives break with government (http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=N10388955&WTmodLoc=World-R5-Alertnet-3)
President Morales does an about face on the mining issue and reaffirms the process of change (http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/)

[chebol]

Background on Bolivia's cooperative miners (http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2006/10/power-of-cooperative-miners-la-prensa.html)

[The Author]

State-employed workers complain that while they earn a monthly wage, workers from the independent cooperatives are paid according to the amount of ore they extract, frequently earning more than mine staff.

"They are sucking the mine dry," said Eliaterio Ancasi, 54, a worker at the state-controlled mining company, COMIBOL. "Within a month many of them have a car, while most of the state workers don't even have a wheelbarrow."

Perhaps raising wages for the state-employed workers and instituting controls on the cooperatives to manage the amount of mining ore extracted to prevent "sucking the mine dry" might relieve this conflict?

Also, perhaps culturing the workers in the cooperatives and discourage overproducing might help as well.

[Tekun]

Originally posted by [email protected] 9 2006, 12:24 PM
A question - what is your porition on the violence between the state miners and the co-operativists? What do you think of the MAS government's support for the cooperativist position? Have you read their (the miners') message to the world? What about the suggestions of nationalising the mines (which has only been hinted at by Morales, so no great expectations)? In the context of the current spat, what do you think should be done to resolve the crisis? And how should the social movements (which are in fact the backbone of the MAS) radicalise the government and/ or their membership to either force the government hand or force them out?

Do you have any ideas, or are you simply going to keep on spouting anti-Morales rhetoric in order to feel good about yourself?
Yeah, I got some ideas...though I wont burden u with any of them

Anti-Morales rhetoric? C'mon bro...if I see something going the wrong way in a country with a president, whose party name is "the movement towards socialism," Im gonna let u know about it
Why shouldn't I?

Who said anything about me feeling good about myself? :lol:
Relax, take a deep breath, and wait for my reply on my position regarding Morales, the mine trouble, and social movements in Bolivia
Im gonna take your word for it, and do some readin on the subject, although I realize that its nothing more than your attempt to snuff out my attacks on Morales

[chebol]

Tekun, mate, this is a board for discussion, ok? If you have ideas, it's not a burden, it's par for the course. In fact, it's kind of the whole point. I look forward to your thoughts on the subject. I'm not trying to snuff out anything - just make it more useful, and factual.

What I object to is not criticism of Morales, but criticism of Morales without any argument or basis for the accusations, which is getting a bit common around here these days. There are reasons to criticise him, and his government, but blanket statements about the nature of the Morales government, without any analysis backing them up are sometimes closer to sectarianism than marxist criticism.

For what it's worth, the recent crisis was to some degree the fault of Morales and his administration. The MAS is largely an alliance of the cocalero movement and various other social sectors, one of which WAS the cooperative miners. Morales' cabinet has been made up of representatives of these various sectors, rather than being built as a functioning team, and a representative of the cooperative miners held an important position in that group. The cooperative miners were to a certain degree exploiting the mine, and that caused ructions between the miners and within the MAS.

The fact that Morales has come down firmly on the side of the state miners, and further, has indicated that the mines will be nationalised, is a good step - a healthy development. However, what this indicates is not so much that Morales is a social-democrat, but more that, like Chavez, he is a radical, without any clear strategy for acheiving his goals - and perhaps not even a clear sense of what those goals are. In Bolivia they are making the revolution blind - which in a sense is always going to happen, but a marxist analysis can be a guiding light in such a situation.

However, this reflects a problem of the social movements and their expressions globally for the past couple of decades, and is nothing new. The problem in Bolivia is that those with a much clearer view, such as the revolutionary parties, the militants in the COB, etc, have such a clear idea of the future that they have little idea how to deal with the present. This leads them to be sectarian towards Morales, and by default towards the position of the most of the Bolivian people, who are still radicalising (sounds odd after decades of struggle, but yes, they are) but haven't come far enough yet.

The best position to take at the moment, in my opinion, is one of critical support of the Morales government, a position founded on a clearer idea of where the revolution in Bolivia will need to go in order to survive, and succeed.

But such a view, or a contrary one, depends on getting a sense of the detail of what is happening on the ground. That way we can try and hammer out our own analysis of what's going on.

[Tekun]

Agreed

Got any links on the subject?