Bolivia: More Trouble from the Mines

Tin is Bolivia's most valuable resource, yet the mines might just as well be in another country for all the prosperity they bring. Since nationalization in 1952, Communist union leaders, backed by a well-armed "workers' militia," have ruled the mines, and no government has dared call a halt to the appalling featherbedding, inefficiency and spiraling wages, which result in losses of more than $6,000,000 annually. No government, that is, except the present military junta headed by Co-Presidents René Barrientos and Alfredo Ovando Candia. Last May the two generals drew up a harsh but workable plan to rehabilitate the mines,...