Word: lechin
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...dingy tin miners' union hall at Siglo, Veinte, 135 miles from the Bolivian capital of La Paz. Until the end, there was no certainty that the men - pawns in a power struggle between Bolivia's moderate President Victor Paz Estenssoro and its leftist Vice President Juan Lechin - would get out alive. Even after Lechin backed down, many of the rebellious miners whom he leads seemed in a mood to set off a civil war in the bleak Andean nation. They demanded that Lechin appear personally before them to explain why the hostages should be released while...
...Gringo!" they ourst into the house and hauled out the foreigners. By dawn, 17 hostages were prisoners in Siglo Veinte's union building. A radio message went out from the mines to the government in La Paz: the hostages in exchange for the two union leaders "or else." Lechin casually denied all responsibility in the kidnaping: "It is a tradition in the mines...
Full Assistance. The U.S. Government was outraged. Secretary of State Rusk fired off a wire to Lechin holding him personally responsible for the hostages' safety. An angry President Johnson immediately offered the Bolivian government "full assistance"-whatever it wanted, including arms and men-to secure the prisoners' release. In Bolivia there was talk of helicopter-equipped U.S. Army Special Forces troops standing by in Panama, ready to fly to Bolivia for a lightning rescue...
From their jail cell in La Paz, the two union men made a taped radio broadcast to the miners, pleading for the release of the hostages to prevent a " bloody massacre." The miners refused, believing that their leaders were coerced into making the plea. Lechin himself returned to La Paz, and in a desperate attempt to make a deal, offered to resign as Vice President and return the hostages if Paz Estenssoro would free the two union leaders and three other leftists in jail. "It was a mistake in the first place to take the hostages," he admitted...
Finally, as troops advanced toward the mines, Lechin seemed to be impressed by the government's determination. In a radio appeal to miners, a weary, red-eyed Lechin urged them to honor Paz's conditions for settlement-assurances of a fair trial for the two jailed union leaders if the hostages are freed. Lechin then said he was leaving for Siglo Veinte to make a personal appeal, and President Paz Estenssoro announced terms had been agreed on and that the prisoners would soon be released. Even so, said a U.S. Embassy official, "We won't be happy...