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Morales sees 'conspiracy' in Bolivia minister's murder

Bolivian President Evo Morales said Friday that his government is the victim of a "political conspiracy" after protesting miners allegedly kidnapped and beat to death a minister who tried to negotiate with them. Defense Minister Reymi Ferreira broke down in tears on television describing how miners allegedly bludgeoned Deputy Interior Minister Rodolfo Illanes to death Thursday after he tried to hold talks with them at a roadblock they had set up in the western highland town of Panduro. "He was harassed, tortured... he was beaten to death according to the information we have," Ferreira said. The brutal killing, which shocked the country, is also politically troubling for Morales. The leftist and labor leader sees himself as a champion of workers, and counted the country's mining cooperatives as key allies. Morales accused his enemies of using a series of recent protests by disabled Bolivians, private transportation companies and now the National Federation of Mining Cooperatives (FENCOMIN) to destabilize his government. "There is a political conspiracy in this FENCOMIN movement, and not a genuine social agenda for the mining sector," he told a news conference. "I feel this permanent conspiracy is using disabled people, using private transport and mining cooperatives," he said. He blamed "certain foreign interests," without giving details. Investigators later swooped on FENCOMIN's headquarters, seizing documents and detaining 10 people. FENCOMIN leaders have so far not commented. - 'Brutally murdered' - Investigators said Illanes, 56, appeared to have died of a stroke after suffering brain trauma and fractured ribs. "It was a very rough scene. A real flogging," said prosecutor Edwin Blanco. Illanes's boss, Interior Minister Carlos Romero, said all signs indicated he had been "cowardly and brutally murdered." Illanes, who had been in his job since March, had attempted to mediate with the miners after days of violent protests. His body was found wrapped in a blanket abandoned along the highway. Illanes's bodyguard escaped the scene after being stripped of his gun, and was admitted to a clinic in La Paz. - Days of violence - In a wave of protests this week, miners had blocked roads and set off dynamite, demanding the right to lease their mining concessions to private or foreign companies. That is currently illegal in Bolivia, where all mines belong to the state. The government says they are also seeking greater power within the Morales administration. Two workers were shot dead Wednesday in mining protests around the central city of Cochabamba, and about 20 police have been injured in clashes. Before Illanes's killing, miners had agreed with the government to start negotiating on Friday morning, on condition they reopened blocked roads. The road blocks were lifted after Thursday's unrest but negotiations are now in limbo. - Challenge to Morales - Bolivia's mining cooperatives are nominally allied with Morales, and hold positions in the executive and in Congress. But the minister's killing now suggests a deep rift with the organization, which has some 60,000 members. A visibly shaken Morales spoke of his "deep pain" at the killing. His government declared Illanes, an adviser to the union, a "hero for the defense of natural resources," and decreed three days of national mourning. Morales, 56, became Bolivia's first indigenous president in 2006, after rising to prominence as the leader of the country's coca farmers' union. He is part of a generation of leftist Latin American leaders whose hold on power is threatened by economic troubles brought on by a plunge in global commodity prices. With Bolivia's mining- and gas-dependent economy in slowdown, he has faced protests from groups who say his government is not doing enough to help them. Disabled Bolivians camped out for weeks near his offices, clashing with police in May at a protest condemning their paltry state benefits of $14 a month. Drivers for private transport companies also blocked roads nationwide in May in a dispute over taxes. Morales lost a referendum in February on changing the constitution to allow him to stand for a fourth term -- his first electoral defeat in a decade in office.