Word: bolivian
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...before they would be attacked. I left Viloco on the morning of July 20, upon notice that military were coming. No one in the town had slept the previous night. Men mobilized commandos to reinforce the entrance point, and a group of women surrounded the radio, holding only a Bolivian flag in their defense. The atmosphere was unbearably tense; all were aware that they could not last long in battle, and that once the town was occupied, the military repression would be brutal...
...would this be the first time that the Bolivian military has occupied the mines and forced people back to work. Miners have a history of violent confrontations with the military which intensified beginning in the 1940s when the miners' union was first formed. Major mines were nationalized in 1952, and pressure from miners working for the state-owned enterprise (COMIBOL) led to other left-leaning reforms by the new government. In the mid-1960s a foreign financed "rehabilitation" plan phased out miners' participation in COMIBOL's management, but it took a series of massacres by the military government of Barrientos...
Right-wing forces cannot rid themselves of the political pressures from miners because mineral production has such importance in the Bolivian economy. Although miners represent only 3 per cent of Bolivia's workforce, mining provides the Bolivian government with 60 per cent of its official foreign exchange. Most recently, miners have used their clout to fight persistently for democratic elections; many in Viloco and other centers vowed to oppose this latest interruption to the final consequences. The resistance of such communities had been instrumental in staving off a 1979 attempted coup...
...determined resistance from miners, urban workers, and campesinos was no match for brute military force. Three weeks after the coup the military had forced workers back to their jobs, cleared road blockades and restored the flow of produce to the cities. Under direct supervision from the Argentinian military, the Bolivian repressive apparatus became more thorough and astute. In the cities, specially trained para-military forces made surprise raids during the night, systematically terrorizing anyone thought capable of providing leadership to the resistance. Repression in the mines was less selective because opposition there had been more widespread and militant. Since international...
This most recent reprieve is contingent on prior fulfillment of an IMF stabilization plan that Garcia Meza first tried to impose in January. IMF intervention in the Bolivian economy has a long history of detrimental effects on the popular sectors and the latest IMF conditions are no exception. In January, economic degrees resulted in severe inflation of necessary goods and wage freezes. Workers all over Bolivia went on strike in spontaneous protest. A new attempt to comply with IMF mandates will surely bring more political problems for Garcia Meza...