Gold miners break dialogue with the Government and La Paz continues to be blocked

The gold miners yesterday broke off dialogue with the government and were unable to negotiate a new tax regime. Against this background,They decided to radicalize the pressure measures and strengthen the blockade of a thousand corners at the seat of government.

“The dialogue has been broken because we did not reach the agreement that we expected. We have been tolerant and this cannot affect the economy of our colleagues. The only point we touch on is the tax regime, they want to make us pay a very high rate, 5%; we raise 4.5%. We are not going to move from La Paz, we are going to massify”, reported the president of the Federation of Gold Mining Cooperatives of Bolivia (Fecmabol), René Butrón.

He added that in case there is a new “favorable” proposal on the rates and the other six points of the petition, they are open to dialogue with the State authorities.

The meeting lasted more than three hours and the cooperative members left the facilities of the National Fund for Rural Development (FNDR) upset due to the “lack of will” of the ministers. About the pressure measurements, they preferred not to reveal their strategies and announced that the bases will march to reach 80,000 miners mobilized.

Yesterday, 1,350 members of the Regional Federation of Gold Mining Cooperatives of the North of La Paz (Fecoman LP) and the Regional Federation of Gold Mining Cooperatives (Ferreco) staged a mass march at the Government Headquarters to demand compliance with your statement that has not advanced since August 25, 2021date the work tables were created.

The gold miners demand the approval of the gold tax regime, the legal status of Fecmabol, legal security against subjugation, monitor irregular events in the Mining Administrative Jurisdictional Authority (AJAM) and Senarecom.

Secondly, request the signing of mining administrative contracts for adequacy of pre-constituted rights with the AJAM, environmental treatments in gold mining cooperatives and the approval of the law of the managing entity in favor of the miners.

Since the previous week, the Federation of Urban Teachers of La Paz has been protesting against the Ministry of Labor, which refuses to recognize the leadership elected in May. Nevertheless, the conflict was aggravated by the arrest of four leaders accused of taking the facilities of that ministry. Yesterday the march of teachers demanded the “pure and simple” freedom of their leaders.

“There are four colleagues unjustly detained: José Luis Álvarez, Felipe Loza, Leandro Mamani and Teodora Chalco. All of them have been brutally beaten. This mobilization is for the dignity and respect of the teachers who have been dragged in the doors of the Ministry of Labor”, said the leader of the teachers of El Alto, Alex Morales.

There were four vigil points, first at the doors of the Special Force to Fight Crime (Felcc), the Ministry of Labor and the Departmental Court of Justice where the precautionary hearing was held.
In addition to the recognition of their leadership, they ask the Government to unfreeze their accounts. Minister Verónica Navia asked Álvarez to explain the destination of Bs 7 million handled in her management.

The third march was carried out by the Association of the Disabled of La Paz, which they reject the modification in the qualification of disability by the Departmental Health Service (Headquarters).

The demonstrators demand the resignation of the director Marina Trocha. “We demand that there be qualified personnel,” they said.