Morales Sees 'Conspiracy' in Bolivia Minister's Murder

Bolivian President Evo Morales said Friday there was a "political conspiracy" against his government after protesting miners allegedly kidnapped, tortured and beat to death a deputy minister who tried to negotiate with them.

Defense Minister Reymi Ferreira broke down in tears on national TV 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, a leftist and labor leader who sees himself as a champion of unions and workers.

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 movement by FENCOMIN, and not a genuine social agenda for the mining sector," the president told a news conference.

"I feel this permanent conspiracy is using disabled people, using private transport and mining cooperatives," he said.

- 'Brutally murdered' -

Investigators said Illanes 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' boss, Interior Minister Carlos Romero, said all signs indicated he had been "cowardly and brutally murdered."

Illanes, who had served as deputy interior minister since March, had gone to a highway blockade in an attempt to mediate with miners after days of violent protests.

He had earlier told local media by telephone that "I am in very good health... safeguarded by peers, so people do not hurt me."

But reports later came in that the 56-year-old former criminal lawyer was dead.

His body was found wrapped in a blanket abandoned along the highway, which has since been reopened to traffic.

Illanes's bodyguard escaped the scene after being stripped of his gun, and was admitted to a clinic in La Paz.

The defense minister said that about 100 to 120 detentions had been made.

The ringleaders who killed Illanes had been identified, he said.

FENCOMIN leaders have so far not commented on the incident.

- Days of violence -

The mining cooperatives' demonstrations turned violent this week, with protesters setting off dynamite as they demanded the right to lease their plots to private or foreign companies -- something Bolivia's constitution outlaws.

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' killing, miners had agreed with the government to start negotiating Friday morning, on condition they reopened blocked roads. But that meeting is now in limbo.

- Challenge to Morales -

Bolivia's mining cooperatives are nominally allied with Morales, and hold positions in the executive and in Congress as senators and deputies.

But the minister's killing now suggests a deep rift.

Morales, 56, became Bolivia's first indigenous president in 2006, after rising to prominence as the leader of the country's coca farmers union.

His government declared Illanes, an adviser to the union, a "hero for the defense of natural resources," and decreed three days of national mourning.

A visibly shaken Morales spoke of his "deep pain" at the killing.

Morales is part of a generation of leftist leaders throughout Latin America whose hold on power is threatened by economic woes 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.