The story of the San Cristóbal mine and the tensions it has raised is emblematic of the larger struggle in Bolivia between a local indigenous leadership that disfavors extractive industry and the national government, which emphasizes that such industries can be harnessed for the benefit of impoverished Bolivians.
The comunarios' mine occupation was a wildcat action—not endorsed by the FRUTCAS, the regional campesino alliance.7 FRUTCAS, formed a generation ago to push for the titling of collective lands, is officially neutral on the mine occupation. In April Porfirio Cruz, the federation's director, sat in his office on the dusty outskirts of the desert town of Uyuni under a large portrait of Morales. On the wall a poster read in Quechua: ¡Capitalistas Pachamamata Kankapuchkaku! Below is the Spanish translation: Capitalismo está liquidando al planeta y la humanidad. Capitalism is killing Mother Earth and humanity.
From Uyuni, it is some 60 miles across the desert to the mine site and Nuevo San Cristóbal, the nearby company town where residents were relocated to make way for the mine. The most visible exponent of governance in Nuevo San Cristóbal is the mine company's non-governmental San Cristóbal Foundation, which is attempting to promote eco-tourism with a mountain bike rental initiative. The foundation's director, Ascensio Caso, almost portrayed the settlement as a boom town. "There were 20 families in Viejo San Cristóbal; now we have 500," he said. The quinoa and llamas are doing fine, he assured me, and a 10-year development plan for the area will eventually include reforestation programs. He said 90% of Nuevo San Cristóbal residents work in the mine, which he claimed uses "cutting edge" technology to control pollution. About 30 miles across the desert in the canton of Calcha K, the mood was decidedly different. There was clearly widespread support for the mine takeover.
Unlike Nuevo San Cristóbal, Calcha K is not on the electricity grid and only received running water in recent years. The same is true of the municipal seat, Colcha K, my next stop. In his office in the pueblo's adobe town hall, municipal officer Julio Huanca warned me that anger is rising.
The comunarios' revolt had a direct impact on the proceedings at the Cochabamba climate conference. When it opened on April 19, a controversy emerged over an unauthorized working group, demanded by Aymara indigenous leaders, on social conflicts in Bolivia related to climate change. Table 18, as it was known, demanded its place alongside the conference's 17 official "tables," or working groups, with titles like "Structural Causes," "Indigenous Peoples," and "Rights of Mother Earth." Grievances aired by Aymara and Quechua leaders at Table 18, officially dubbed the table on "Collective Rights and the Rights of Mother Earth," centered on the San Cristóbal mine, as well as the state-owned Corocoro mine in La Paz department.
Regalsky charged that despite "the anti-capitalist discourse of Brother Evo," "foreign capital" still often plays a decisive role in Bolivia's development policies. He cited moves toward reviving plans for an inter-oceanic transport link through Bolivia, and mineral and gas exploitation on indigenous lands. Refuting government charges that Table 18 was dealing only with internal Bolivian issues, Regalsky added, "These questions also have implications for Paraguay, Brazil, Chile, and Peru. And they have implications for the rights guaranteed by the Bolivian constitution." Figures in the Bolivian government attempted to discredit Table 18 by linking it to the right-wing opposition.
Chancellor David Choquehuanca, for example, said any effort to divide the summit—which was how he evidently viewed Table 18—is the work of "opponents and capitalists."13 Yet when Norma Pierola, a national legislator from Cochabamba with the right-opposition National Convergence party, tried to enter the restaurant to address Table 18 (on environmental concerns, she said), attendees blocked the entrance, chanting "¡No pasará!" (she will not enter).
At the end of the conference's third day, the Aymara elders who convened the dissident table held a final meeting, where CONAMAQ's Rafael Quispe announced that Morales had agreed to meet with the Table 18 leaders and hear their demands. Morales, however, really had no choice but to meet with Quispe, because he had also convened the official Table 3, "The Rights of Mother Earth." Quispe said the Table 18 representatives would demand "the expulsion of all extractive resource industries" from Bolivia, and that the government adopt a new development model based on ayllus and local self-sufficiency, or what indigenous political leadership calls the "Andean cosmo-vision." Table 18's final resolution was handed in to Morales with the "official" resolutions on the morning of Earth Day, April 22—but not formally adopted by the conference.
A week after the conference, however, Morales hadn't shown for a follow-up meeting at the CONAMAQ office in La Paz to discuss Table 18's demands. "There's still no response," Quispe said. "There's just a lot of bureaucracy." Angered, he accused Morales of hypocrisy. "The government says 'capitalism or Pachamama,' " he said. "But this government is neoliberal and capitalist. It's all a political show. Evo's election was a step. But the marches, strikes, blockades that brought him to power are continuing." (For more on Quispe's position, see "Beyond Extraction").
1. Bloomberg, "Sumitomo to Boost Zinc, Lead Output at Bolivia Mine," June 3, 2009.
2. Los Tiempos (Cochabamba), "El Gobierno no descarta usar la fuerza pública para solucionar el conflicto en San Cristóbal," April 17, 2010.
3. EFE, "Campesinos bolivianos suspenden bloqueo de vía férrea hacia Chile," April 23, 2010.
4. Óscar Olivera and Tom Lewis, Cochabamba! Water War in Bolivia (South End Press, 2004); Jim Shultz, "The Cochabamba Water Revolt, Ten Years Later," Yes!, April 20, 2010.
5. Bloomberg, "Vanishing Bolivian Glacier Ends Highest Ski Run," August 5, 2009.
6. For more on this problem, see Linda Farthing, "Bolivia's Dilemma: Development Confronts the Legacy of Extraction," NACLA Report on the Americas 42, no. 5 (September/October 2009): 25–29.
7. Los Tiempos, "Nor Lípez: inician diálogo en la zona; sigue bloqueo," April 22, 2010.
8. Agence France-Press, "Bolivia Slams Japan Mining Firm for 'Plundering' Resources," April 18, 2010.
9. Erbol Comunicaciones (Bolivia), "Gobierno prevé reunión con pobladores de Nor Lípez para esta semana," April 19, 2010.
10. Minera San Cristóbal, "A la opinión pública," paid statement, La Prensa (La Paz), April 25, 2010.
11. Erbol, "Minera San Cristóbal gana mil millones de dólares y sólo tributa 3,5 por ciento al año," March 17, 2010.
12. Ramos and Quispe are quoted in Erbol Comunicaciones, "Darán el primer paso para un referendo mundial, pero sin reconocer la mesa 18," April 18, 2010.
13. Los Tiempos, "Sectores y 'mesa 18' piden parar labor extractiva," April 21, 2010.
14. World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of the Mother Earth, "Bolivian President Evo Morales to Deliver Results of People's Conference on Climate Change to UN," press release, May 7, 2010.
15. Los Tiempos,, "Evo amenaza con una demanda si no se toma en cuenta la Declaración de Tiquipaya," April 22, 2010.