Bolivia - February 27, 2024

In the early hours of this morning, a blockade of the mine shaft was carried out by rank and file miners from inside the mine, paralyzing all production work. The reason is that the management of Empresa Minera Huanuni (EMH) refuses to pay an overproduction bonus that is in arrears since 2023. As a result, the rank and file miners want to decide about demanding the resignation of the company manager and that of the current union staff, and for this they are calling for an Emergency General Assembly.

According to workers' claims, there would be 5,072,018.22 bs (more than 5 million) for such payment, against the manager's statements that there is no money for paying such a bonus. This filled the mining base with anger because they have the experience of last year when they were denied this payment.

The leadership of the new union is committed to have the bonus paid at the end of the current month. For this reason, yesterday morning they prevented the manager from going to work and asked for his resignation due to allegations of corruption.

In the last few years they were taken away the health and safety bonus, the school bonus, the light services bonus (which benefited the miners who did not have company-provided housing, an amount was paid for electricity fees) and now the administration wants to take away more conquests, although… the "production incentive bonus" comes from the effort, muscles and lungs that the workers leave in the mine!
We must break all deals with the government! Because the miners have achieved nothing in return, on the contrary, they government wants to take away more of our conquests.
These are the results of the subjugation to the government that the collaborationist leaders of the COB, FSTMB and the various leaders of the SMTMH (Huanuni Mixed Union of Mining Workers, NT) have imposed on the miners! Enough of sealing deals with the government of the transnationals, servant of Wall Street!

In the 2022 struggle, the miners of Huanuni and Colquiri took over the COB and the Mining Federation, respectively, disavowing the bureaucracy of Huarachi and the Mining Federation for doing nothing against this attack. The fighting of the miners aimed at recovering the leadership and put it at the service of the struggle. We must return to this path!

Emergency general assembly now! As a first point, this assembly must vote that no bonuses are touched and that payment is guaranteed because there is plenty of money in the mine.

From the Assembly we can fight to call for a Congress of the Mining Federation of employed and unemployed miners, where the base of the cooperatives that do not exploit other mine workers should be present, to be able to throw out this bureaucracy, servants to any government in office! And thus a vote for a plan of struggle to confront the attack of the capitalists has to be conquered. We must break all pacts with the anti-worker government of the MAS! Let us take back the COB from the hands of sellout bureaucrat Huarachi!

Enough of dividing us among this or that leader who is is kneeling at the feet of some sector of the masista bourgeoisie! With that excuse, in Huanuni and in the country, they only tie our hands so we are not able to fight against the management and the government. We must recover the class independence of our parent organizations and our struggle. Enough of submitting to our executioners, i.e., the bosses!

We cannot fight divided, while in the city of Oruro, the COD, the students of the UTO, neighborhood councils and the poor people are fighting against the hike in public transport fares that will only increase the cost of living. This is a demand of the entire workers' movement. We cannot fight in isolation!

There is plenty of money to be able to have better living conditions... Not to mention the billions of dollars that the imperialist transnationals and the so-called “cooperativist” bosses steal by plundering the minerals guaranteed to them by the government. There is more than enough money left over to invest in the Huanuni mining company and pay the bonds!
Let the capitalists pay for the crisis! As we have seen...there is money, and plenty of it!: Nationalization of ALL mining without compensation and under workers' control! For a true nationalization of hydrocarbons without compensation and under workers' control! No to the repayment of the fraudulent foreign debt with the IMF!

Correspondent of Democracia Obrera

Miners block access to the mine

Miners block access to the mine