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Striking Bolivian miners have reportedly tortured and killed the deputy interior minister, Rodolfo Illanes, who was sent to speak to protesters:
Bolivian Deputy Interior Minister Rodolfo Illanes was beaten to death after he was kidnapped by striking mineworkers on Thursday, the government said, and up to 100 people have been arrested as authorities vowed to punish those responsible. "At this present time, all the indications are that our deputy minister Rodolfo Illanes has been brutally and cowardly murdered," Minister of Government Carlos Romero said in broadcast comments.
He said Illanes had gone to talk to protesters earlier on Thursday in Panduro, around 160 km (100 miles) from the capital, La Paz, but was intercepted and kidnapped by striking miners. The government was trying to recover his body, Romero said, in a case that has shocked Bolivians. Defence Minister Reymi Ferreira broke down on television as he described how Illanes, appointed to his post in March, had apparently been "beaten and tortured to death".
[...] Protests by miners in Bolivia demanding changes to laws turned violent this week after a highway was blockaded. Two workers were killed on Wednesday after shots were fired by police. The government said 17 police officers had been wounded. The National Federation of Mining Cooperatives of Bolivia, once strong allies of leftist President Evo Morales, began what they said would be an indefinite protest after negotiations over mining legislation failed. Protesters have been demanding more mining concessions with less stringent environmental rules, the right to work for private companies, and greater union representation.
Also at NPR, WSJ, and BBC (and in Spanish).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @10:17PM
so, have the miners admitted culpability?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @10:29PM
It sounds like a perfect way to get rid of a pesky 'honest' minister while also casting the parties he was going to negotiate with into doubt.
How hard would it be for Bolivian police/military/special forces to dsiguise themselves as some miners, get into the picket lines, then capture, beat and murder the miners best hope at negotiation?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday August 26 2016, @10:46PM
I strike with the word "reportedly" (reportedly).
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @10:19PM
It's such a shame IT nerds are too cowardly to rape, torture, and kill to earn the pay they deserve.
Good for H1B though! Continue the outsourcing and insourcing until IT is a cheap shade of brown.
And remember, for every eloquent social butterfly like Mike Dave Crowfard, there are at least a dozen socially awkward basement dwellers who will never work again.
Here's to the future! When Bolivia will look civilized!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @02:47PM
The RIAA and NSA were probably involved too.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Friday August 26 2016, @10:40PM
So this is what it looks like when the boss strikes. Interesting, and bloody:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-bolivia-minister-idUSKCN11100X [reuters.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @10:42PM
Shocked, I'm shocked I tell you! Gross brown mud people torture and kill? What will happen next?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @10:51PM
Immigants crawl their way into the USA in search of money.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @11:03PM
We must build the wall! Trump 2016!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @11:36PM
That gives me the idea of coining the phrase "Of Trumpian proportions" meaning "Yuuuge!"
And then I googled [google.com] and found out that I'm not so original after all.
Sigh.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @02:44AM
Some of the large importers just pointed out (read in today's newspaper) that if Trump gets his Wall and breaks current free trade agreements, there will be a major shortage (or price increases) of Mexican beer and various forms of Mexican liquor (tequila, etc) in the USA.
Something to think about. Hard to imagine anyone could get elected on a platform that took away choice in beer & booze...
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 27 2016, @10:33PM
Sounds like a business opportunity to me.
http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/08/when-molecular-nanofactory-is-realized.html [nextbigfuture.com]
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(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @01:02AM
A messenger who was trying to help you. Not very wise, kind of like those rioters who destroy their own neighborhoods.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @04:50AM
Have you seen those neighborhoods? The rioters destroy their own neighborhoods because they live in shitholes and they're hoping some developer will notice and improve the dump as an investment scam to help the poor.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday August 27 2016, @07:21AM
I guess one of the most persistent images burned into my mind was a grocery store fire, in Watts ( Southern California, USA ) in the 60's during the riots.
The camera focused in on shelves of goods, on fire. One good in particular was going up in flames pretty fast. A whole aisle of disposable diapers.
Made me wonder what the mommas are gonna be putting on their babies once their local cache is gone, cause its gonna be years before the infrastructure to provide all the mommas with disposable diapers are back online, and the mommas are gonna have to use the washing machine and old-school reusable diapers.
And if they can't buy 'em, they'll have to make 'em, just like grandma did.
Seemed so counter-intuitive to revolt by setting ones own neighborhood on fire.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday August 29 2016, @06:32PM
Part of it is that riots aren't what you'd call "planned", and definitely aren't organized. The basic elements are: A crowd with poor self-control (drunk, flush with a sports victory/loss, righteously angry, etc), and a critical mass of people engaged in criminal acts that prevent the police from actually arresting them right away. Once people know they can commit crimes with impunity, those that were only kept from committing crimes through fear of punishment will basically get going with the burning, looting, fighting, etc that they've always wanted to do without thinking.
As Michael Moore pointed out years after the LA Riots, if they'd been thinking they would have looted and burned Beverly Hills or another nice neighborhood.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by dingus on Saturday August 27 2016, @07:49PM
Most of the time it's because they get trapped in there by police, actually.