COB education protest
e0602 COB education protest, April 1986: Education was the core issue in a multi-sector strike wave that crested in April 1986. Rural and urban teachers’ unions had been on strike since February, pursuing demands related to salary, the education budget, and government- backed changes to the educational code. On April 1, the government moved to layoff of 75,000 teachers, prompting other sectors to join the protest wave. The next day, in response to a decrease in salaries, health workers began to strike. Regional civic committees, with Cochabamba’s in the lead, began mass cabildos and protests on April 4. Protesters demanded the renunciation of the Education minister and a solution to the problems. In response, the Education Minister asked the military and police to evict the protesters. The Central Obrera Boliviana labor confederation began a strike in defense of education on April 8.
Efraín Flores, a student from the Colegio Ayacucho killed on April 8, was the first fatal victim of police repression. Marcelino Quenta, a factory worker at HILBO, was injured the same day by a tear-gas canister and died on April 16 (Centro de Documentación e Información (CEDOIN) 1986b; Quintana Taborga, Tellería Escobar, and Atahuchi Quispe 2005, 164). Both fatalities occurred in La Paz.
A government agreement signed on April 20 resolved the education strike and teachers returned to work on April 21. In addition, in Cochabamba the COB declared a 24-hour strike on April 4. The prefect of department declared it an illegal protest and said that those protesting were "professional protesters" mimicking teachers and workers. Demonstrations were also taking place in Tarija and Beni. In Tarija, a representative of the President arrived on April 15th and agreed to local demands. Protests then ceased. In Beni protesters were also requesting more education funding, and other basic necessities including a hospital with potable water and electricity, and better ability to travel to areas only accessible by roads. Protesters had to resort to “kidnapping” a plane of the LAB airline to draw attention to these issues. By April 24 protesters had reached a preliminary agreement and by April 26 teams were formed to address each of the issues. The various sectors involved in the protests, miners, teachers, workers reached agreements with the government by May to slowly increase salaries (Centro de Documentación e Información (CEDOIN) 1986a, 1986b, 1986c, 1986d, 1986e).