Word: lechin
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...commander in chief of the armed forces, to pick up the pieces. For 24 hours anti-government rioters surged through La Paz, looting, burning and sniping at army troops sent to keep order. Before it was over, 45 were killed, 160 wounded. Out of hiding came Leftist Juan Lechin, 51, Paz's archrival and boss of most of the country's 35,000 tin miners. Adding to the chaos, his miners demanded the re-establishment of union control of the mines...
Preaching Hatred. The warning rumbles have been growing ever since the May election in which Paz won another four-year term over the bitter opposition of two erstwhile allies: former President Hernán Siles Zuazo, 50, and Juan Lechin, 51, leftist boss of Bolivia's tin miners. Siles has been packed off to exile in Uruguay. But Lechin is still around, preaching hatred and focusing Paz's opposition...
...fired into a mob of rioting students, killing one of the youths. That was all it took to trigger an open revolt by students, miners and agitators of every stripe. In mining centers, union radios crackled with calls for "popular rebellion" against "the bloody tyrant and assassin Paz Estenssoro." Lechin's well-armed miners fought pitched battles with government troops, and the first casualty reports told of some 50 dead...
...There May Be Trouble." The animosity between Paz and Lechin has grown ever more bitter. In December, tensions exploded when the miners kidnaped four Americans as hostages for two far-leftist union leaders arrested as part of the mine cleanup. After ten days, the miners backed down; at the party convention a month later, Lechin was drummed out, and Paz was named for a third term. The raging Lechin called a rump convention and swore to run against...
...much power Lechin retains is questionable. After Paz's triumphant tour of Oruro last week, Lechin decided to withdraw from the election and announced that he would boycott the voting. He then did the only thing he could think of: he challenged Paz to a duel "to prevent the spilling of innocent blood." Paz ignored the challenge, and other threats of street demonstrations, strikes and even assassination. "There may be trouble," he admits. "They may try to kill me. But we have set out the design, and we intend to carry...