Interior Minister Carlos Romero said “all indications” were that Mr Illanes had been murdered in a “cowardly and brutal” attack.
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However, Defence Minister Reymi Ferreira told Red Uno television his colleague had been “savagely beaten” by the miners.
Bolivian miners are in dispute with their government over laws which prevent them from dealing with worldwide companies. However, a government spokesperson did say earlier that Illanes had been kidnapped and could possibly face torture at the hands of his captors.
Striking informal miners in Bolivia kidnapped and beat to death the country’s deputy government minister after he traveled to the area to mediate in the bitter conflict over mining laws, officials said late Thursday.
“The government was trying to recover his body”, Romero told local media and added that more than 100 arrests had been made.
The alleged murder took place on Thursday evening in Panduro, which is 160 kilometers from the Bolivian capital of La Paz.
In clashes over the last three days, approximately 20 police have been injured and two remain captured by miners in the central city of Cochabamba, according to official data. Rodolfo Illanes was reported to have gone to try to negotiate with the protesters, who subsequently kidnapped and killed him.
The protesters are demanding greater mining concessions from the government that would lead to a relaxation of strict environmental legislation, as well as better union representation and the right to work for private companies. They had blockaded the highway there since Monday, stranding thousands of vehicles and passengers.
Bolivia’s informal miners number about 100,000 and work in self-managed cooperatives that primarily produce zinc, tin, silver, gold and lead concentrates.
“They want to be able to associate with private companies, which is prohibited”, the wire service reports.
The influential National Federation of Mining Cooperatives of Bolivia, a strong ally of Morales when metal prices were high, was organized in the 1980s amid growing unemployment in the sector that followed the closure of state mines.
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Natural gas accounts for roughly half of Bolivia’s total exports.
