Striking miners kill deputy minister in Bolivia

Defense Minister Reymi Ferreira broke down in tears on television describing how miners allegedly bludgeoned Deputy Interior Minister Rodolfo Illanes to death Thursday after he tried to hold talks with them at a roadblock they had set up in the western highland town of Panduro.

Government Minister Carlos Romero called it a “cowardly and brutal killing” and asked that the miners turn over the body of his deputy, Rodolfo Illanes.

The government was was trying to recover Illanes’s body.

Three miners have died since the beginning of the protests, state-run ABI reported.

The murder of a deputy minister in Bolivia by striking miners led to the break up of their protest on Friday, while dozens of miners and union leaders were arrested. Two workers were killed on Wednesday after shots were fired by police. According to authorities, he was intercepted by the Bolivian miners who kidnapped and killed him.

The ringleaders who killed Illanes had been identified, he said, adding that the act “cannot go unpunished, and must be taken to court”.

26 de agosto de 2016, 15:30La Paz, Aug 26 (Prensa Latina) Bolivian social organizations, grouped In the Pact of Unity, condemned today the assassination of Interior Vice Minister Rodolfo Illanes by the hands of cooperative miners, and urged to negotiation and peace.

The body of deputy minister Rodolfo Illanes was found abandoned on a roadside next to his burned-out auto, which his attackers had set on fire.

“This is a political conspiracy”, Morales said at a news conference on Friday.

They say they want the government to loosen rules meant to protect the environment so they can increase output.

The National Federation of Mining Cooperatives began the indefinite protest after negotiations with the government failed on mining legislation.

Morales, an ex-coca grower, nationalized Bolivia’s resources sector after taking power in 2006, initially winning plaudits for plowing the profits into welfare programs.

The vast majority of miners in the country work in cooperatives.

Morales has seen his support amongst the unions fall due to accusations of cronyism and authoritarianism. “There are few foreign-owned mining firms, unlike in neighboring Peru and Chile”.