BOLIVIA: Bolivians bury 16 killed in miners' clashes

Grieving Bolivian families held funerals on Saturday (October 07) for 16 people killed when rival groups of miners attacked each other with dynamite in an impoverished town in the Andean highlands. The violence was ignited on Friday (October 06) when independent miners tried to seize complete control of several state-owned tin mines, including Huanuni, one of the world's largest. The independent workers had been sharing work at the mine with state workers. "The state-union movement (COMIBOL) has always applied a no sharing policy --it's always been all for them, nothing for the rest. It's because of that situation that we tried a peaceful assumption of control yesterday, but we were overpowered by the company ('COMIBOL') and the army," declared independent miner, Ruben Ticona. A truce reached late on Friday restored a tense calm to the town of Huanuni. "I'm concern, we are all crying. We all call for peace and we are all mourners in Huanuni right now," local resident Paulina Conde said describing the dire situation. Weeping relatives gathered at the two funeral parlours in the town as streets were blocked off to make way for the mourners. Shops started to reopen and white flags hung from miners' houses, some scarred by the dynamite attacks. Local media said talks over the mine's future involving the government of President Evo Morales and the rival miners would begin on Monday (October 09). Morales on Friday fired his mining minister, who was criticized for not foreseeing the violence. But in Huanuni, a bleak town of about 40,000 people, angry miners continued to blame the government. 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. The violence began when hundreds of independent miners threw lit sticks of dynamite at their rivals and packed dynamite into tires, which they rolled down to explode near state-employed miners guarding mine entrances. 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've (independent miners) lied when they stated that we were going to seize their cooperative meeting. That was not the case. They have taken over part of the management offices, the depot, the storage, all. Thanks to the people and the students we've managed to make them retreat and now we are calmly guarding as the independent colleagues launched tires packed with dynamite that destroyed part of our headquarters ('COMIBOL')," said Ronald Quintela. There were deaths on both sides and about 60 people were hurt before a the truce was reached on Friday night. Both state-employed miners and independent miners work parts of the vast tin mine -- the South American country's biggest -- and the independent cooperatives have long been demanding larger concessions to work the site. Leftist Morales, who has strong support among miners, was elected on pledges to fight poverty and restore state control to natural resources in South America's poorest country. He nationalized the energy sector earlier this year but his government has so far ruled out a similar approach to the cash-strapped mining sector. In a televised address late on Friday, Morales said "the entire Bolivian nation is in mourning" and urged the miners involved in the conflict to "think of the country," state news agency ABI said. MINING INDUSTRY

ITN Source | October 8, 2006

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