Rival miners clash in Bolivia

dailymotion.com

(ROUGH CUT ONLY - NO REPORTER NARRATION) STORY: Rival miners from Bolivia's No. 2 tin mine, Colquiri, threw sticks of dynamite and rocks at each other in the city of La Paz on Tuesday (September 18), injuring at least seven people. The hour-long street battle showed leftist President Evo Morales's move to seize control of the mine in June was not enough to end a conflict between unionized workers and independent miners. The government took over operations at Colquiri after miners fought for weeks over control of the site, located about 200 km (125 miles) south of La Paz. The state takeover drew an angry response from its former owner, global commodities trader Glencore. But miners remain at odds over who has the right to exploit the richest part of the mine's resources. Police tried to disperse the thousands of marchers with tear gas, but local news outlets reported at least four union miners were injured. Thousands of independent miners entered La Paz around midday and threw dynamite at several dozen unionized miners who were standing guard outside the Miners' Federation labour organization. The unionized workers said they will demand that Morales expel the independent cooperative miners from Colquiri, where they were allowed to continue mining one section of the site under June's government-brokered accord. Production losses at the mine have topped $5 million since the dispute re-ignited at the beginning of the month.

Rival miners clash in Bolivia official