... 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...

... The Trade Union Federation of Bolivian Mineworkers ( fstmb ) held an emergency congress in the mining district of Siglo XX from 20 to 22 October 1986. Two months earlier, the government had forcibly shut down a major protest march responding to the mining crisis and the massive layoffs...

... in 1890 and with Oruro in 1892. After 1927, the tin magnate Mauricio Hochschild held possession of the valuable mine. Given the economic importance of Pulacayo, it is no coincidence that the site would become a leading center for the organization of mineworkers. The Trade Union Federation of Bolivian...

... and impoverished peasants who had migrated to the cities, swelling the unemployed or underemployed urban population living on the edge of subsistence, contributed to the powerful popular protests against the neoliberal model. The Trade Union Federation of Bolivian Mineworkers ( fstmb ) held an emergency...

... The neoliberal state, the media, and international-development institutions spoke in terms of disembodied concepts such as “restructuring” and “relocation,” but the massive layoffs from the mines in the late 1980s had very human effects. The adversity faced by mineworkers included concrete...

... The following testimony and song express a nostalgic leave-taking. Yolanda Santiesteban, a resident of the historic mining center of Llallagua, evoked the feelings of those mineworkers who experienced the closure of the state mines and the massive layoffs and forced “relocation” of the labor...

... With the onset of World War II, Bolivia’s tin supply became increasingly important to the U.S. war effort. Mineworkers were also increasingly aware of the value of their labor and began to organize and pressure for increases in their modest wages. The mine-owners likewise pressured...

... the government’s massacre of mineworkers who had been celebrating the nighttime vigil of San Juan to mark the winter solstice. Despite the reactionary nature of the regime, Barrientos framed his project as the continuation of the national revolution and identified with celebrated earlier military leaders...

... increasingly important to the U.S. war effort. Mineworkers were also increasingly aware of the value of their labor and began to organize and pressure for increases in their modest wages. The mine-owners likewise pressured the government of President General Enrique Peñaranda (1940–43) to suppress trade-union...

... military regimes in the 1960s. He also dedicated a chapter of his dark book to the grim destiny of mineworkers. In his account, the highland mining camps were cemeteries full of men who aged and died prematurely, whose bodies were poisoned, and whose labor enriched New York and London more than it did...

... of mineworkers who had been celebrating the nighttime vigil of San Juan to mark the winter solstice. Despite the reactionary nature of the regime, Barrientos framed his project as the continuation of the national revolution and identified with celebrated earlier military leaders, especially Coronel Germán Busch...

... rumor, and his reading of learned chroniclers. The city that emerges from his picaresque stories is inhabited by a remarkable cast, including warring parties of Basques and other Spanish immigrants; trapped Indian mineworkers rescued by a miraculous Virgin; an Indian social climber rebuffed...

... as the mita , by which the state provided Indian workers for the city’s mines and ore-processing mills. He recognized the arduous work of the corvée mineworkers (mitayos) , but justified forced labor on the grounds of Indians’ purported sloth and argued that the decrease in the number of mitayos...

... Juan Lechín Oquendo (1914–2001) was the legendary and virtually lifetime leader of the Trade Union Federation of Bolivian Mineworkers from its founding in 1944 to its crisis in 1987. From 1952 onward, he was also the head of the Bolivian Workers Central ( cob ). Initially a member...

... knowledge, credible rumor, and his reading of learned chroniclers. The city that emerges from his picaresque stories is inhabited by a remarkable cast, including warring parties of Basques and other Spanish immigrants; trapped Indian mineworkers rescued by a miraculous Virgin; an Indian social climber...

... of Mineworkers in 1952, a decade later the miners and their wives had come to see the government as an oppressive new boss. The mnr relied on different parastate and state forces to control the population: the female “shock-troops” from popular urban sectors known as barzolas —who took their name from María...

... mine. Given the economic importance of Pulacayo, it is no coincidence that the site would become a leading center for the organization of mineworkers. The Trade Union Federation of Bolivian Mineworkers ( fstmb ) was founded in 1944, and in November 1946, conscious of the workers’ pivotal role...

... brought together mineworkers and Aymara peasant unions, and their alliance overthrew the dictatorship of General Alberto Natusch Busch and opened the way for the restoration of democracy. Zavaleta saw this as an exceptional moment of political crisis which unified diverse social forces around a popular...