La Paz- Bolivia / Bolivian deputy interior minister beaten to death. Rodolfo Llanes was kidnapped by

Rodolf Illanes, deputy interior minister, had gone to talk to protesting workers on Thursday in Panduro, around 160km (100 miles) from the capital, La Paz, but was intercepted and kidnapped.; “At this present time, all the indications are that our deputy minister Rodolfo Illanes has been brutally and cowardly assassinated,” minister of government Carlos Romero said in broadcast comments. The government was trying to recover his body, Romero said. Reymi Ferreira, the defence minister, said that Illanes had been “savagely beaten” to death by the striking miners.He broke down on television as he described how Illanes, appointed to his post in March, had apparently been “beaten and tortured to death”. Illanes’ assistant had escaped and was being treated in a hospital in La Paz, he said.“This crime will not go unpunished. Authorities are investigating ... around 100 people have been arrested,” Ferreira said.

Police clash with miners near a blocked road in Panduro on Thursday as a dispute over industry reform escalated into violence, leaving two workers and now a government minister reportedly dead. Photograph: Martin Alipaz/EPA

The Mariana DAngelo Editorial Group / August 26 / 2016