Word: lechin
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Early last year, when Communist union leaders resisted his reforms for Bolivia's notoriously inefficient tin mines, Barrientos slapped the mines under military control, ordered troops into troubled areas and exiled 200 union leaders, including Union Boss Juan Lechin. After a bloody series of battles that left 102 dead and 350 wounded, the miners finally gave in. Helped along by a high tin market, the mines moved from under a $3,000,000 deficit in the first five months of last year to a net year-end profit of some $2,000,000-their first year in the black...
...examine the mines' books. Determined to break the Red hold, Barrientos declared the mines under military control, sent in troops to subdue the troublemakers in a series of battles that left 70 dead, 250 wounded. He then rounded up some 200 union leaders, including Top Boss Juan Lechin, and unceremoniously air-expressed them off to exile (TIME...
Attack on the Mines. Barrientos made up his mind to have it out with the miners three weeks ago when he exiled Leftist Union Leader Juan Lechin and announced a campaign to reorganize the overstaffed, money-losing mines (TIME, May 28). At the start, Ovando seemed to back him fully. As union radios at the mines blared a call to revolt, some-1,000 army troops marched into the town of Oruro, killing six miners in a two-hour pitched battle. Another 2,500 soldiers captured four union strongholds in the mining districts and moved to within H miles...
...Down with the Boot." Predictably, Lechin's Bolivian Labor Confederation called a general strike that shut down the railroads, factories, textile mills and tin mines. In La Paz itself, 4,000 factory workers shouting, "Down with the military boot!" sacked and burned the office of the military's domestic airline before police rifle fire dispersed the mob, killing one rioter and wounding 19. The demonstrations went on for six days. Then the workers started trickling back to work, leaving only the miners still storming around...
Though Barrientos seems to have won the round, the fight is far from over. Lechin's miners, controlled for years by experienced Communists and far-leftist agitators, are well-armed and not likely to give up easily. At week's end, when Barrientos ventured into mining country, gunmen ambushed his motorcade, killing one security agent and taking four others hostage. It was the eighth attempt on his life, and he only narrowly managed to escape. Barrientos also faces challenges within his own military, where pressures are growing against his increasingly autocratic ways (TIME, May 21). But he made...