No Cabinet

The memory of a bloodily crushed strike eight months ago raised an uproar last week in the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies. The strike was that of Tin King Simon I. Patino's miners (TIME, Dec. 28, 1942); the uproar came when leaders of Bolivia's extremist parties accused the Government of responsibility for the bloodshed that followed Army intervention.* Under the barrage of criticism, President Enrique Penaranda's nine-man Cabinet resigned.

The problem has haunted President Penaranda. After the strike was put down, a mixed U.S.-Bolivian commission, in response to public indignation in Bolivia and the U.S., investigated the mines, made recommendations which the President promised would be carried out. They never were. Now, President Penaranda had the choice of improving conditions or forming a strong-arm military government.

* The Bolivian government admits 19 dead, 40 wounded; Bolivian miners claim that 400 men, women & children were shot down.

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