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 POTOSI, Bolivia (AP) - The silver, zinc and other metals under Bolivian soil are fetching their highest prices in decades, and Evo Morales has dedicated his presidency to claiming a larger share of the money for his country's people.
But first he'll have to deal with miners like Marco Taboada.
Swinging a sledgehammer, a plug of coca leaves in his cheek, Taboada is a formidable sight and one of about 60,000 independent Bolivian miners organized into small cooperatives. These men mostly backed Morales' 2005 landslide election, but are ready to fight the president's efforts to impose more state control over their industry.
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