DEADLY MINING CLASH CONTINUES

C O N F I D E N T I A L LA PAZ 002719

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/AND
TREASURY FOR SGOOCH
ENERGY FOR CDAY AND SLADISLAW

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/06/2016
TAGS: ECON EMIN ELAB PGOV PREL BL
SUBJECT: DEADLY MINING CLASH CONTINUES

REF: LA PAZ 2698

Classified By: Ambassador Philip Goldberg for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) Summary: Fighting between cooperative miners and
workers of the state-owned mining company COMIBOL broke out
in Huanuni on October 5 (reftel) and continued on the 6th,
despite temporary truces agreed on October 5 and 6. At this
time, it appears that the second truce is holding and that
fighting has ceased. Press reports indicate 16 confirmed
dead and 61 wounded. Embassy contacts say there are an
unknown number of miners trapped in the mine. The 700
unarmed police sent in by the GOB reportedly have restored
calm. Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera has been
criticized for allegedly offering to "send coffins," rather
than the military, to Huanuni. Both sides are blaming the
GOB for the conflict. End summary.

Mining Conflict Background
--------------


2. (SBU) The state-owned mining company COMIBOL has operated
the Posokoni mine in Huanuni, Oruro, the country's main tin
deposit, since the nationalization of the mines in 1952.
During the 1980s, after the price of tin dropped, many mines
were closed, COMIBOL was reduced in size, and many miners
migrated to the East. Those miners that remained, and those
that have recently returned due to rising tin prices, formed
private cooperatives to eke out a living with rudimentary
mining techniques. The MAS administration has made promises
to the cooperative miners of providing them equipment and
allowing them to mine portions of state-owned mining areas,
including Posokoni. On October 4, COMIBOL sent a letter to
the cooperative miners informing them that it was not
possible to transfer shares of the Huanuni Mining Company to
them.

Truce Has Stopped the Violence for Now
--------------


3. (C) On October 5, fighting broke out between independent
cooperative miners and workers of COMIBOL (reftel). Late on
October 6, the press reported that 16 people were confirmed
dead and 61 wounded in the fighting between 4,000 cooperative
miners and 1,200 workers of COMIBOL in Huanuni, Oruro.
Congressman Nagatani told Emboff that an unknown number of
miners are trapped in the mine and that the cooperative
miners had destroyed the oxygen generators. A GOB commission
consisting of the minister of the presidency, the president
of the human rights assembly, and the national ombudsman
reached a peace agreement with the leaders of both mining
sectors in the evening of October 5, but the agreement broke
down as fighting broke out again on the morning of the 6th,
with COMIBOL workers demanding the mining minister's
resignation and cooperative miners raining dynamite down from
the hills onto Huanuni houses. The ministers of government
and defense announced on the 6th that 700 police were being
sent to stop the fighting and create conditions for dialogue,
and later in the afternoon, the government again announced
that a truce had been brokered. According to Embassy
contacts, the unarmed police entered Huanuni, and were
initially unable to quell the fighting, but did in the end
provide room for the peace deal that was brokered late on the
6th.


4. (SBU) The Bolivian Workers' Union (COB) and the
Cooperative Miners' Federation (FINCOMIN) convened their
affiliates in the city of Oruro in the afternoon of October

6. Many miners live in Oruro and many traveled from other
parts of the country. Conflicts involving the use of
dynamite erupted in the city, but there were no reports of
wounded people.

Miners Blame GOB for Violence
--------------


5. (SBU) Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera reportedly
initially responded to the conflict by stating that ambition,
greed, and a desire for exclusive control over the tin from
the Posokoni mine were the sources of the deaths. He even
has been alleged to have said that the government would not
send in the military or police, but would send coffins. He
told the press that, since March, the government had
conducted at least 16 meetings with the cooperative and state
miners during which the GOB had presented various proposals
for joint exploitation of the Posokoni mine, but they were
all rejected. Both sides in the conflict blamed the
government, including Mining Minister Villarroel, Vice
President Garcia Linera, and President Morales, for the
violence. It is notable in this regard that President
Morales has yet to speak publicly about the events, leaving
this duty to his vice president.


6. (C) Comment: The deaths in Huanuni, just one week after
the cocalero deaths in Carrasco National Park, are more
evidence of the Morales administration's weakening grip on
the nation's simmering conflicts. The president's complete
silence and the vice president's callous approach in the lead
up to the emergency will likely tarnish the public's opinion
of the leaders. The GOB's sending in of unarmed police
demonstrates the government's reluctance to use force and
awareness of the dangers conflicts such as these pose for the
government. (Previous administrations have fallen as a
result of similar explosions of violence, and mismanaged
responses to them.) It remains to be seen if the truce will
hold, but it is certain that the political repercussions of
Huanuni will continue to haunt this administration. End
comment.
GOLDBERG