The dynamite attack is thought to be the result of two mining collectives fighting over access to gold deposits.A clash between gold-mining operations in Bolivia has resulted in an explosion that killed six people, according to authorities.
Thursday’s blast rocked the Yani mining camp approximately 150 kilometres – or 90 miles – northwest of the country’s administrative capital, La Paz.
“There are six dead, and we have reports of missing persons,” said Jhonny Silva, a representative from one of the mining groups involved, the Hijos de Ingenio Mining Cooperative.
That mining collective reportedly brawled with another group, known as Senor de Mayo, in a dynamite-laden fight over access to a gold mining area. The explosion left houses damaged and the town of Sorata without power.
“They have blown up machinery with dynamite, even a diesel tank,” Silva said of the rival cooperative.
Collectives developped in Bolivia as an alternative to state-run and private enterprises. Critics have accused those large companies of providing unstable employment for low-income mining workers, their jobs hinging on market fluctuations. Advertisement
The collectives started to crop up in the wake of several economic crises, particularly in 1985, when international mineral prices fell and the state-owned mining company Corporación Minera de Bolivia (COMIBOL) temporarily shuttered.
That left tens of thousands of Bolivian miners without jobs. As Bolivia’s mines were privatised, the collectives offered a space for the miners to self-organise. …
