Santa María Mine Clash
Account
On March 25, 2008, a confrontation occurred in Oruro’s Santa María mine between campesinos from Puna Huaylluma (Cochabamba) and cooperative miners from Huanuni (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008). Huanuni miners were brought to the mine on Monday, March 24 by the Compañía Minera del Centro (Comicen) (La Patria 2008e). According to the testimony of miner Rosaldo Acarapi, the Huanuni miners were not aware the campesinos were occupying the mine when they were brought there (“Líos En La Mina Santa María Dejan 2 Muertos y Ocho Heridos | Mineria de Bolivia” jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008). The following day on Tuesday, March 25, Cochabamba community members assembled in large numbers and violently retook the Santa María mine, killing two miners and injuring nine others in the conflict (La Patria 2008e; Bolivia 2008). Other accounts number eight injured (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008). The estimated 150 perpetrating community members were from the Yunguma community of the Bolívar province in Cochabamba (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008).
Eloy Mollinedo Jaita (62) and José Ordóñez Ramos (55), were both killed through stoning and suffered fractured skulls (La Patria 2008e). The director of the Special Force to Fight Crime (FELCC), Colonel Adolfo Espinosa, said that the bodies had gunshot and knife wounds (Correo del Sur 2008b). Eloy Mollinedo was kidnapped while attempting to flee and subsequently tortured, his face crushed by a large stone (“Líos En La Mina Santa María Dejan 2 Muertos y Ocho Heridos | Mineria de Bolivia” jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008). His remains were recovered on March 26 five kilometers from Santa María by his son Boris Mollinedo, miner Lucio Lazo, and three other miners (“Líos En La Mina Santa María Dejan 2 Muertos y Ocho Heridos | Mineria de Bolivia” jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008). His body showed clear signs of torture and his hands were tied (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008). In order to recover the body from the Yungas kidnappers, these men pretended to be officials from the Oruro Prefecture (Industry jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008). The police and prefectural authorities did not make any efforts to recover the bodies or rescue lost miners, despite the cooperative offering four fleets to transport the police to the mine (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008). Eloy Mollinedo is survived by his wife, Benita Butrón, who blamed her husband’s death on President Evo Morales for only ever defending the campesinos and not other social sectors like miners (Industry jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008).
On the night of 26th, the body of cooperative miner José Ordóñez Ramos (55), also captured by the campesinos during the conflict, was recovered by the Citizen Civil Assistance Group for the Police (Gacip) (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008). Ramos’s head was crushed and his hip shattered, and his body showed signs of being locked in a pillory (“Líos En La Mina Santa María Dejan 2 Muertos y Ocho Heridos | Mineria de Bolivia” jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008). Ordóñez is survived by his wife, María Macías, and their five children aged 4 through 15 (“Líos En La Mina Santa María Dejan 2 Muertos y Ocho Heridos | Mineria de Bolivia” jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008). The bodies of Mollinedo and Ramos were transferred and buried at Plaza 10 de Febrero in Oruro (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008).
According to miner Cupertino Herrera, the Huanuni miners were cooking and starting to work around noon on Tuesday when they were surrounded by a mob of Yunguma community members (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008). Miner and cooperative leader Boris Mollinedo recounted that the cooperative miners were forced to flee at 3:00 pm while under fire and being stoned by the campesinos (“Líos En La Mina Santa María Dejan 2 Muertos y Ocho Heridos | Mineria de Bolivia” jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008). Miner Lucio Lazo said the community members carried stones, sticks, pickaxes, and weapons (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008). Community members also carried dynamite (“Líos En La Mina Santa María Dejan 2 Muertos y Ocho Heridos | Mineria de Bolivia” jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008). Injured miner Antonio Acarapi said that he was beaten with stones, one stone they wanted to throw at him weighing 60 kilograms (“Líos En La Mina Santa María Dejan 2 Muertos y Ocho Heridos | Mineria de Bolivia” jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008). Other accounts specify that campesinos had pillory and rifles (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008). Lazo also stated that he had heard machine guns (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008). Miners were unarmed and tried to run away, but many were beaten with sticks and stones and kidnapped to be tortured (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008). Pedro Mateo Chamani, one kidnapped miner, said he escaped only thanks to a woman who lived in the house where he was detained who untied him (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008).
On March 27th, there were 23 missing miners of the 120 cooperative workers (“Líos En La Mina Santa María Dejan 2 Muertos y Ocho Heridos | Mineria de Bolivia” jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008). By March 28, reports numbered 5 still missing, one of whom was believed to be dead by many miners (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008). One woman who lived in the area told prosecutor José Calle that there was a body covered in a blanket lying in one of the mine openings (La Patria 2008d). The Homicide Division of the Special Force to Fight Crime (Felcc) investigators searched the mine and found a pile of straw covered in a blanket in a shape resembling a body, as well as pairs of shoes (La Patria 2008d). Police concluded that there were no more deceased, restating that only two were dead (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008; La Patria 2008d). Tomás Alvaro Achacollo (62), the miner presumed dead, was rescued severely injured from the mine and brought to Oruro along with the eight other injured (La Patria 2008e). (“Dos Muertos y Nueve Heridos Por El Control de La Mina Santa María | Mineria de Bolivia” jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008) Achacollo had been beaten by Yunguma campesinos for 24 hours before he was found by the Special Force to Fight Crime (Felcc) (“Minero Reaccionó de Milagro Después de 24 Horas de Haber Sido Golpeado | Mineria de Bolivia” jueves, 27 de marzo de 2008).
Aldo Morales, José Calle, and Mario Mamani were appointed the prosecutors to investigate the deaths in the Santa María mine (La Patria 2008d). Over 50 police officers joined them in their inspection on March 29th, which continued through March 30th (La Patria 2008d). During the investigation, police found a Mauser rifle, four shotguns, and 24 cartridges of dynamite at the scene (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008). Anfo, another sand-based explosive, was also found scattered in the mine (La Patria 2008d). By March 30th the mine was abandoned and no one was working or residing in the settlements there (La Patria 2008d).
Background
The campesinos had previously expelled the miners on July 16, 2007. In September 2007, campesinos wrote to The Departmental Chamber of Mining requesting for mining rights to be taken from mining concessions and given to campesinos (La Patria 2008a). The miners then filed and won an administrative appeal, giving them permission to return to the mine. On March 23, 2008, police evicted the Cochabamba community members who had taken over and were working at the Santa María mine (La Patria 2008e). Cochabamba campesinos claimed the mining company had committed to hiring members from 3 local communities, each community comprising 30% of the workforce and the remaining 10% left as the mine owner’s choice (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008). Instead, 120 former Huanuni Cooperative miners who had lost their jobs were hired by Jorge Pacheco, owner of the Oruro mine (“Mataron Con Saña a Dos Mineros” 2008).
On February 22, Reyes Villa sent a letter to the Minister of the Presidency Juan Ramón Quintana warning about a mining conflict but his letter was never addressed (Correo del Sur 2008b).
Miriam Raquel Alvaro Loza, daughter of Tomás Alvaro Achacollo, informed Prefecture of the Oruro department Edgar Paredes about the Santa María conflict on March 26 (La Patria 2008b). Alvaro stated that the police chiefs and Paredes were afraid to go into the mine for an investigation and displayed a “lack of sensitivity and interest.” (La Patria 2008b) Alvaro went to the office of the Prefect at 7 am on Wednesday, March 26 and was directed to the office of Paredes and Genaro Canaviri (La Patria 2008b). She told them that her father, unlocated and presumed dead at the time, was still dumped in the mine, but by 11 am Paredes still hadn’t sent anyone to investigate (La Patria 2008b). Alvaro blamed Paredes for handling the conflict so passively and attributed the deaths and injuries to his responsibility (La Patria 2008b).
Two other miners previously died on March 18th in clashes with campesinos over the control of a mine (Correo del Sur 2008b). Police determined that the Santa María clash on March 25th was not related to clashes between miners and farmers the previous week (Correo del Sur 2008b).
Aftermath
The government announced plans to mediate the conflict between the two parties in La Paz at a meeting scheduled for April 4.(La Prensa 2008) The cooperative miners agreed to cease efforts to retake the mine until the negotiations could occur.
On Monday, April 7 at 6:15 p.m., Porfirio Mamani Roque and Marcial Crispín Achacollo were arrested as suspects for the deaths of Eloy Mollinedo Jaita and José Ordóñez Ramos (“Detienen a sospechosos de la muerte de ex cooperativistas” 2008). Both men are community members from the Bolívar province (“Detienen a sospechosos de la muerte de ex cooperativistas” 2008). According to the Ministry of Government, there is sufficient evidence that these men were responsible for the deaths in Santa María (Correo del Sur 2008a).
Leader of the National Unity Front, Samuel Doria Medina, held the government ‘intellectually’ responsible for the Santa María mine deaths (Correo del Sur 2008b). He reasoned that the government is constantly pushing the narrative that the indigenous people own Bolivia’s natural resources, which contributed to the Santa María clash (Correo del Sur 2008b). Prefect Manfred Reyes Villa also blamed the Evo Morales government (Correo del Sur 2008b). Others place the deaths on the lack of legal security which contributes to the uncertainty over land ownership, and the government’s refusal to validate the current Political Constitution (La Patria 2008a). Gonzalo Quintela, President of the Departmental Chamber of Mining, agreed with this sentiment and said that Bolivia’s legal framework was still based on the Political Constitution of 1967 (La Patria 2008a). Quintela argued that the government must regulate the ‘arbitrariness’ caused by the peasant sector, which in some cases claimed land while in others didn’t (La Patria 2008a). Quintela asked the Minister of Mining and Metallurgy to facilitate a discussion between the government, mining concessions, and social organizations in order to reach an agreement on mining rights (La Patria 2008a).
Issues like the Santa María mine are compounded because the state often doesn’t protect private property rights, so insecurity over land ownership escalates into violence (La Patria 2008c). Mine owners are outnumbered and overpowered by the communities, though the campesinos do not have authority over the mines (La Patria 2008c).