STRIKERS HURL DYNAMITE

Chronicle (Levin), 1 June 1949, Page 5

STRIKERS HURL DYNAMITE

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-Reuter,

State Of Siege In Bolivia Follows Rioting

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Receivea Wednesday, 10.1-5 a.m. LA FAZ, May 31. Strikers hurled dynamite from their hilltop re'doubts today in a battle With- the Bolivian troops trying to keep brder in the wake of weekend rioting in the Andean tin mine area. "• All Bolivia is under a state of siege dedarM by the Government. A Government communique said that this action was taken because the strikers had brought about a state of civil war. Atolit 2000 strikers were reported to be engaging about 200 regular soldiers in battle in the area of the Huanini mine. All foreign resi'dents of the mine area are being evacu-, ated to nearby cities. Mosfc of the foreigners involved are American engineers and their families. The Government blamed the Op~ position Rightist Nationalist Re~ volutionary movement for the uprisings. Bolivia seems threatened with creeping para'ysis in a mixed political and labour crisis. Reports from Catavi, a tin mining centre 12,000 feet up in the Andes, state '.hat the bodies of four Bolivian mine officials * were haeke'd into quarters after the men had been beaten and then shot. A Government announcement stated that Mrs. O'Connor, the Mexican-born wife of the chief engineer of the Twentieth Century mine, was tortured after her husband had been killed before hei eye's. Thus far it has been impcssible to get a clear picture of the violence in the Catavi area over the weekend. The Ministry of Public Works in the latest communique repeated its previous statement that about 100 strikers and 50 soMiers were killed on Saturday in fighting at the mines.