During the period of the military dictatorships in the 1960s to early 1980s, the trade-union movement was subject to intense and ongoing persecution. Yet under the auspices of the Bolivian Workers Central (cob), and with the mineworkers as its leading sector, it also struggled stubbornly against dictatorship and for the restoration of democracy. After the fall of the government of General Hugo Banzer Suárez, in 1978, there followed an agitated period in which three elections were annulled and the military staged various coups and countercoups. Hernán Siles Zuazo, who headed the Popular Democratic Unity (udp) coalition...