Bolivian miners take up arms as protests ratchet up

Bolivian mining cooperative workers, who have staged roadblocks around the country over the past month, are arming themselves with guns and dynamite to protest against alleged changes to the country's general cooperative law, a senior government official said.

The police have sent reinforcements to several areas after clashes between miners and the armed forces left at least one protesrter dead and 17 police and a TV cameraman injured, interior minister Carlos Romero said, adding miners are collecting Mauser rifles to use at roadblocks in Cochabamba department. Protesters have also taken deputy interior minister Rodolfo Illanes hostage, Romero said.

Other roadblocks were reported in Santa Cruz, Potosí and Oruro. At least 10 miners have been arrested to date.

Albino García, head of Bolivia's national confederation of cooperatives, went into hiding after an arrest warrant was issued, La Paz-based newspaper La Razón reported.

"Once again they're gathering at block roads, beating journalists, acting with violence, out of control, and are communicating with each other to use rifles," Romero said in a broadcast press conference in La Paz. "This has become a political act of conspiracy."

Miners fear they will have to join unions and are demanding the government create a deputy ministry to oversee mining cooperatives. The government claims it has no intention of forcing cooperative workers to form unions.

The protests are costing the country US$1mn/d in lost tourism revenue, according to culture and tourism minister Marko Machicao. The government is prepared to restart talks with the miners once roadblocks have been lifted, minister for the presidency Juan Ramón Quintana said.

President Evo Morales, who lost a bid to extend his decade-long rule in February, has faced massive protests against his government this year as workers from various sectors, as well as disabled people, staged demonstrations and blocked highways in key mining and oil regions.

Private investment has fallen in Bolivia since Morales, who was sworn in for a third consecutive term last year, seized mining operations from companies including Glencore, South American Silver and Jindal Steel since first taking office in 2006.