Police officer escort independent miners detained for questioning in the death of Bolivia’s late Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Rodolfo Illanes, in La Paz, Bolivia Friday, Aug. 26, 2016.
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He said Illanes had gone to talk to protesters earlier on Thursday in Panduro, around 160 km (100 miles) from the capital, La Paz, but was kidnapped by striking miners before being killed.
“All the indications are that our deputy minister Rodolfo Illanes has been brutally and cowardly assassinated”, said minister of government Carlos Romero on Thursday.
More than 100 arrests had been made in relation to the murder.
Bolivian President Evo Morales nationalized the natural resources sector, including natural gas, which provides the country with half of its exports, after coming to power in 2006.
Pragmatic miners initially wanted to use the senior government official as a bargaining chip in their negotiations for more union rights and the ability to work for private firms, so they kept him alive.
His comments take place after government officials confirmed Thursday evening that striking miners from the Federation of Mining Cooperative in Bolivia, known as Fencomin, were responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Llanes.
The situation had deteriorated after two miners were shot dead on Tuesday.
Mr Illanes was “savagely beaten” to death by the striking miners, defence minister Reymi Ferreira told Red Uno television, his voice breaking.
In this November 26, 2014 photo, released by the government-run Bolivian Information Agency, Bolivia’s Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Rodolfo Illanes speaks during a press conference at the governm.
They say they want the government to loosen rules meant to protect the environment so they can increase output. There were reports that he had heart problems.
His body was found early on Friday morning by the side of a highway between La Paz and Oruro, covered by a blanket.
The vast majority of miners in Bolivia work in cooperatives and earn a meager living producing silver, tin, and zinc.
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Illanes, a 58-year-old attorney, was a key adviser and a man committed to supporting peasant unions who worked in several government offices trying at all times to engage in dialogue when social protests erupted, Morales said. Unlike neighboring Peru and Chile, there are few foreign-owned mining companies.
