A violent confrontation between rival gold-mining collectives in Bolivia has resulted in a deadly explosion that killed six people, officials confirmed on Thursday.
The blast struck the Yani mining camp, located approximately 150 kilometers (90 miles) northwest of La Paz, amid an ongoing dispute over access to gold deposits.
“There are six dead, and we have reports of missing persons,” said Jhonny Silva, a representative of the Hijos de Ingenio Mining Cooperative, one of the groups involved in the conflict.
According to reports, members of the Hijos de Ingenio cooperative clashed with another mining group, Senor de Mayo, in a fight involving dynamite. The explosion damaged homes and left the nearby town of Sorata without electricity.
“They have blown up machinery with dynamite, even a diesel tank,” Silva said, blaming the rival cooperative for the destruction.
Bolivia’s mining collectives emerged as an alternative to state-run and private enterprises, providing employment to miners left jobless after the collapse of the state-owned mining company, Corporación Minera de Bolivia (COMIBOL), in the 1980s.
Today, mining collectives dominate Bolivia’s extractive industry, outnumbering workers in the state and private sectors. However, critics argue that the cooperative system operates with minimal regulations, leading to dangerous working conditions, environmental damage, and frequent violent disputes over mining rights and market control.
With an estimated 1,600 gold-mining collectives, clashes have erupted in the past, sometimes involving COMIBOL workers and security forces. In 2012, a similar conflict led to road blockades and a fatal dynamite attack in La Paz.
Thursday’s explosion followed years of escalating tensions between the rival collectives, Silva said.
Colonel Gunther Agudo, a local police officer, described the blast as “an explosion of great magnitude” and confirmed that rescue operations were ongoing. Authorities have not yet confirmed whether any arrests have been made in connection with the attack.
