Bolivian national authorities are investigating a clash between miners and police that left two dead and 30 wounded in the region of Huanun Aug. 4, Government Minister Alfredo Rada confirmed. Rada said the incident was sparked when the police moved to break up a roadblock by workers demanding a new pension law. Rada told reporters that the workers' demands are being debated in the National Congress, and accused the opposition of trying to disrupt the Aug. 10 recall vote. Rada refuted media accounts alleging use of firearms by the police. He said police intervened when they learned the miners planned to blow up a bridge in the town of Caihuasi, in the central department of Oruro.

The blockades on the La Paz-Oruro road were carried out in support for the Bolivian Workers' Confederation (COB), which is demanding that the government approve a new pension law. President Evo Morales urged the COB not to play the opposition's game, which is aimed at destabilizing the government. (Prensa Latina, Aug. 7 via Upside Down World)

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