Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Bolivia found itself exporting both its precious metal and its profits. Public outcry
launched a series of labor uprisings, and set the stage for nationalization of the mines in
1952 and the subsequent creation of the government-run Corporación Minera de Bolivia
(Comibol).
Decades of government inefficiency, corruption and low global tin prices preceded the
push for
capitalización
(a variation on privatization), which eventually brought about the
dissolution of Comibol in the mid-1980s. When the last mine closed in Oruro, it was a
hard hit for the city.
The price of tin went back up in the early 1990s and a handful of local cooperative
mines reopened. Then in 2008 the price of tin dropped to US$7 per pound and salaries
plummeted. Things have slowly started to look up since with more than 7% annual in-
come growth in the area, and high mineral and metal prices worldwide.
Orureños
are extremely proud that current president Evo Morales is from their
province; he was born in Isallavi, a tiny Aymará village on the western side of Lake
Poopó, and went to secondary school in Oruro.
Dangers & Annoyances
The region has been mined since pre- Columbian times and there is an estimated 2 million
tons of mining waste sitting on the hillsides outside of town. This waste contaminates the
water, the air and the general environment, and clashes between mining and agricultural
interests are on the rise.
Sights
The action around town tends to center on the Plaza 10 de Febrero and Plaza del Folklore.
Bolívar is the main commercial drag and a fun people-watching walk in the evening.
Santuario de la Virgen del Socavón
(Plaza del Folklore s/n)
Miners began worshiping the Virgen de Candelaria (the patron of
Oruro miners) on this site in the 16th century. The present church, which is a 19th-century
reconstruction of the 1781 original, figures prominently in Oruro's Carnaval as the site
where good ultimately defeats evil.
CHURCH
Museo Sacro, Folklórico, Arqueológico y Minero
MUSEUM
