Siglo XX (mine)
Coordinates: 18 ° 25 ′ 0 ″ S , 66 ° 38 ′ 0 ″ W.
Siglo XX (German: 20th century , pronounced "Siglo Veinte") is the name of the famous Bolivian tin - mine . It is on the outskirts of the city of Llallagua in the Rafael Bustillo province in the Potosí department . It has been the scene of repeated industrial disputes and many of the miners were active members of the Bolivian miners' union Federación Sindical de Trabajadores Mineros de Bolivia (FSTMB). The Siglo XX mine and the Catavi tin smelter form a coherent mining and processing complex. The miners have lived in the mining town of Siglo XX since it was founded .
history
The mine was acquired by the “Tin King” Simón I. Patiño in the 1910s .
In the course of the national Bolivian revolution of 1952 under Víctor Paz Estenssoro , the mine was nationalized after the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) had expelled the existing military junta . Siglo XX and other mines were placed under the control of the new state agency Corporación Minera de Bolivia ( COMIBOL ) and the Catavi-Siglo-XX complex formed the largest unit within COMIBOL.
1967 massacre
On Midsummer Day , June 24, 1967, the Bolivian army attacked a miners' camp set up on the mine site. There were about 100 deaths.
Shutdown
In 1987 Siglo XX was shut down. This was a consequence of an economic structure agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank .
literature
- Jordán Pozo, Rolando: Minería. Siglo XX: la era del estaño ; in: Campero Prudencio, Fernando: Bolivia en el siglo XX. La formación de la Bolivia Contemporánea, La Paz: Harvard club de Bolivia 1999, pp. 219–239 (Spanish)
- Viezzer, Moema: If I am allowed to speak ... ; Testimony from Domitila, a woman from the mines of Bolivia; Lamuv Publishing House; ISBN 3-921521-05-X