Clashes at a roadblock on Aug. 25, the day Illanes was killed.
Photographer: Juan Karita/AP Photo
Bolivia’s Desperate Miners Are Doing Desperate Things—Like Murder
Everyone knows who killed Rodolfo Illanes. So why is his death such a mystery?
Rodolfo Illanes, the vice minister in charge of domestic affairs in Bolivia, held his cell phone to his left ear and struggled to hear the voice on the line. Dozens of angry men crowded around him, some holding heavy wooden sticks, some shouting insults. They were miners, and for a week they’d been blocking several strategic highways throughout the country, demanding changes to a new national mining law.
“They’ve taken me hostage, minister,” Illanes said, speaking on the phone to Carlos Romero, Bolivia’s minister of government affairs. “I was just entering Mantecani alone, and I was counting how many miners were on the hillsides. …”