In 1998 the World Bank notified the Bolivian government that it would
refuse to guarantee a $25 million loan to refinance water services in
the Bolivian city of Cochabamba unless the local government sold its
public water utility to the private sector and passed on the costs to
consumers. Bolivian authorities gave the contract to a holding company
for US construction giant Bechtel, which immediately doubled the price
of water. For most Bolivians, this meant that water would now cost more
than food. Led by Oscar Olivera, a former machinist turned union
activist, a broad-based movement of workers, peasants, farmers and
others created La Coordinadora de Defensa del Agua y de la Vida (the
Coalition in Defense of Water and Life) to deprivatize the local water
system.
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Bolivia
Benjamin Dangl:
Following an overwhelming re-election victory, President Evo Morales intends to "accelerate the process of change."
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Global Justice Movement
Mike Dolan:
The "Seattle coalition" for fair trade has suffered some setbacks, but on the whole we have filled the political space we created in the tear gas and drizzle a decade ago.
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Global Justice Movement
Lori Wallach:
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In early 2000 thousands of Bolivians marched to Cochabamba in a showdown
with the government, and a general strike and transportation stoppage
brought the city to a standstill. In spite of mass arrests, violence and
several deaths, the people held firm; in the spring of that year, the
company abandoned Bolivia and the government revoked its hated
privatization legislation. With no one to run the local water company,
leaders of the uprising set up a new public company, whose first act was
to deliver water to the poorest communities in the city. Bechtel,
meanwhile, is suing the government of Bolivia for $25 million at the
World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment
Disputes.
About Maude Barlow
Maude Barlow is the chairperson of the Council of Canadians. She serves on the
board of the International Forum on Globalization and is the author of
Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water (New Press).
more...
About Tony Clarke
Tony
Clarke is the director of the Polaris Institute. He serves on the
board of the International Forum on Globalization and is the co-author, with Maude Barlow, of
Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's
Water (The New Press).
more...
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