In-Depth Analysis of Last Week's War of the Mines

Readers:

As we reported here, in brief, last week, last Thursday two rival groups of miners at the huge tin mine at Huanuni went to war with each other, leaving 17 people dead in a storm of tossed dynamite and live rounds. It was the bloodiest day in Bolivia since the government repression three years ago that led to the ouster of President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada.

Our friends at the Blog, Upside Down World, April Howard and Benjamin Dangl, have just published a very thorough report on events at the mine, including both a deep historical analysis of what led to the conflict and a wide collection of eyewitness accounts. We recommended the article to anyone interested in learning more about what happened at Huanuni, or interested in a solid historical backgrounder on Bolivian politics since the 1952 revolution. Below is the opening of April and Ben's article and a link to the full text.

Jim Shultz

--------------------------------

Tin War in Bolivia: Conflict Between Miners Leaves 17 Dead
April Howard and Benjamin Dangl

"Something that should have been a blessing for the country has been turned into a curse." - Bolivian Vice President, Alvaro García Linera

October 7th was supposed to be a day of celebration for the Virgin of Rosario, the patron saint of miners. Yet events in Huanuni delayed the festival interminably.

In place of the celebration, the archbishop presided over a mass for 17 people killed in a two day conflict over access to tin mines. As an uneasy peace returned to the town, a nearby soccer field-turned-battlefield was still carved up by craters from dynamite explosions and stained red with the blood of miners.

Only six days after two coca farmers were killed by soldiers sent to eradicate unauthorized coca crops in a remote national park in Cochabamba, seventeen miners in the town Huanuni are now dead after conflicts between mining organizations. This recent conflict has its roots in the exploitative history of the Bolivian mining industry, in revolution and nationalization, in privatization and the failure of neoliberalism.

Read the full article here.