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Bolivia miners call off protest | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Bolivian miners have ended their protest in La Paz over tax increases after reaching agreement with President Evo Morales. | |
More than 20,000 miners belonging to small co-operatives blocked the centre of the administrative capital, throwing dynamite and clashing with police. | |
After six hours of talks, Mr Morales promised a fund to improve working conditions for the miners. | |
There was no agreement on a proposed tax rise which the miners oppose. | |
Two policemen were injured on Wednesday in a second day of clashes with the miners. | |
Investment fund | |
Mr Morales said the agreement marked a reconciliation with the mining co-operatives, which about 55,000 of Bolivia's independent miners belong to. | |
"I've never thought about stamping out mining co-operatives, as some have said," he said after the long meeting with mining leaders. | |
"This government belongs to the grassroots movements, they (mining cooperatives) have been part of this government and they have to continue," Mr Morales added. | |
The president promised a $10m (£5.07m) government fund to invest in the mining co-operatives and said he would expand the area where they can mine. | |
Bolivia's extensive mineral deposits are state-owned. | |
The co-operatives had been staunch supporters of the left-wing president until last October when they accused Mr Morales of supporting state-employed miners in a violent dispute at the Huanuni mine in which 16 people were killed. | |
Even before the protest began on Tuesday, the government went back on its plan to raise taxes on the independent miners. | |
Instead, officials said the tax increase would be directed at larger private mining companies. | |
President Morales wants to keep the small co-operatives on his side while still taxing the foreign energy companies, the BBC's Americas editor Will Grant says. | |
Bolivia's mineral exports were worth more than $1bn last year, but the government says it only collected $45.5m in taxes from the mining sector. | |
It is hoping to raise that to at least $200m this year. |
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