Reply #3: Sorry, MrModerate, you need to go back to the books on this. It was the PRIVATIZATION of water [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

which broke the backs of Bolivian citizens who found they could no longer afford the meagerest use of Bolvia's water, and the last straw was the claim by the controlling company that they should be made to PAY FOR RAIN WATER THEY COLLECTED.

Here's an article written during the hideous conflict in Cochabamba, Bolivia, which THE PEOPLE WON:

Bolivia's Water War Victory
by Jim Schultz
Earth Island Journal, Autumn 2000

At 10am, President Hugo Banzer places Bolivia under martial law. This drastic move concludes a week of protests, general strikes and transportation blockages that have jerked the country to a virtual standstill, and follows the surprise announcement of government concession to protesters' demands to break a $200 million contract selling Cochabamba's public water system to foreign investors.

The water system is currently controlled by Aguas del Tunari, a consortium led by London-based International Water Limited (IWL), which is itself jointly owned by the Italian utility Edison and US-based Bechtel Enterprise Holdings. Upon purchasing the water system, the consortium immediately raised rates by up to 35 percent. That untenable hike sparked the protests.

In January, "Cochabambinos" staged strikes and blocked transit, effectively shutting their city down for four straight days. The Bolivian government then promised to lower rates, but broke that promise within weeks. On February 4, when thousands tried to march in peaceful protest, President Banzer had police hammer protesters with two days of tear gas that the 175 people injured and two youths blinded.

Ninety percent of Cochabamba's citizens believed it was time for Bechtel's subsidiary to return the water system to public control, according to results of a 60,000-person survey conducted in March. But it seems that the government has come to Bechtel's rescue, insisting the company remain in Bolivia. President Banzer, who ruled Bolivia as a dictator from 1971-78, has suspended almost all civil rights, banning gatherings of more than four people, and severely limiting freedom of the press. "We see it as our obligation, in the common best interest, to decree a state of emergency to protect law and order," Banzer trumpeted.

Local radio stations have been closed or taken over by military. News paper reporters have been arrested. Police conducted nighttime raids searching homes for water protesters and arresting as many as 20 people.
The local police chief has been installed as state governor. The "emergency government" now consists of a president (Hugo Banzer), a governor (Walter Cespedes) and a mayor (Manfred Reyes Villa), each of whom is a graduate of the notorious School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia (infamous for training foreign military personnel in terror and assassination techniques).

Rural blockades erected by farmers have cut some cities off from food and transportation. Large crowds of angry residents armed with sticks and rocks are massing in the city centers, where confrontations with military and police escalate.

Tear gas has engulfed thousands of demonstrators in downtown Cochabamba, while a large military operation is mobilizing to clear the highways in five of the nation's nine provinces.
All this puts Cochabamba on the front-line in the battle against a globalization of water resources. The Coordiadora de Defense de Aguay la Vida (CDAV, Coalition in Defense of Water and Life), a broad-based collaborative including environmental groups, economists, lawyers, labor unions and local neighborhood organizations, spearheads the campaign to prevent loss of local control over water systems. Its leaders either have been arrested or driven underground.

More:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/South_America/Bolivia_WaterWarVictory.html

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Bechtel Surrenders in Bolivia Water Revolt Case

Engineering giant sought $50 million, settles for thirty cents

January 19, 2006

A Revolt Over Water

In 1997, the World Bank made privatization of the public water system of Bolivia’s third largest city, Cochabamba, a condition of the country receiving further aid for water development. That led, in September 1999, to a 40-year concession granted to a company led by Bechtel. Within weeks of taking over the city’s water, Bechtel’s Bolivian company, Aguas del Tunari, raised rates by more than 50 percent and in many cases much higher.

Bechtel’s price hikes were met with fierce public protest. Cochabamba, a city with a population of more than half a million, was shut down by general strikes three times. In an effort to protect the Bechtel contract, the Bolivian government declared a state of martial law and began arresting protest leaders at their homes in the middle of the night. An unarmed 17 year-old boy was shot and killed by an army sharpshooter. Hundreds of others were injured. In April 2000, Bechtel was forced to leave the country and the water company was returned to public ownership.

In November 2001, Bechtel and its associates filed their case with ICSID at the World Bank. The ICSID process bars the public and media from being present at its proceedings or even disclosing who testifies. For four years citizen groups on five continents waged a global campaign to pressure Bechtel to drop the case. Protesters closed down Bechtel’s San Francisco’s headquarters twice. Company officials were bombarded by e-mails. Citizen groups from 43 nations endorsed a legal petition to the World Bank demanding that the case be opened to public participation. The case also earned substantial notoriety in the international media.

“This is the first time that a major corporation like Bechtel has had to back down from a major trade case as the result of global citizen pressure,” said Jim Shultz, executive director of The Democracy Center in Cochabamba, and a leader of the global effort. “It should signal to corporations contemplating similar legal actions that they should be prepared to defend those actions in the court of global public opinion, not just behind closed doors at the World Bank.”

“This settlement demonstrates the power of public participation,” said Martin Wagner of Earthjustice. “Unfortunately, hundreds of foreign investor challenges against developing countries remain pending and more will be filed as the United States and others continue to force governments to give foreign corporations special privileges. We must continue to tear down the walls of secrecy and exclusivity in international commercial arbitrations like this one.” Wagner drafted the 2002 legal petition on behalf of Bolivian civil society leaders demanding public participation in the Bechtel case.

http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/006/page.jsp?itemID=27533393

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Timeline: Cochabamba Water Revolt
September 1998
IMF Loan to Bolivia Requires Privatization

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approves a $138 million loan for Bolivia to help the country control inflation and bolster economic growth. In compliance with IMF-drafted "structural reforms" for the nation, Bolivia agrees to sell off "all remaining public enterprises," including national oil refineries and Cochabamba's local water agency, SEMAPA.

June 1999
World Bank Discourages Water Subsidies
In its Bolivia Public Expenditure Review, an economic report prepared for the country, the World Bank maintains that "no subsidies should be given to ameliorate the increase in water tariffs in Cochabamba." Countries receiving loan assistance from the World Bank and the IMF are often discouraged from heavily subsidizing public services, as such expenditures counteract IMF and World Bank formulas for reducing debt, controlling inflation and attracting foreign investment.

September 1999
Bolivia Leases Cochabamba Water System to Multinational Consortium
After closed-door negotiations, the Bolivian government signs a $2.5 billion contract to hand over Cochabamba's municipal water system to Aguas del Tunari, a multinational consortium of private investors, including a subsidiary of the Bechtel Corporation. Aguas del Tunari was the sole bidder for the privatization of Cochabamba's water system.

October 1999
Aguas del Tunari Announces Its Plans; Bolivia Legalizes Water Privatization
On October 11, Aguas del Tunari officially announces that it has been awarded 40-year concession rights to provide water and sanitation services to the residents of Cochabamba. The consortium also announces that it will generate electrical energy and irrigation water for the region's agricultural sector. The major shareholder of Aguas del Tunari, Bechtel subsidiary International Water Ltd., claims that water delivery coverage and sewage connection will increase by at least 93 percent by the fifth year of private water management in Cochabamba. That same month, the Bolivian parliament passes Law 2029 (the Drinking Water and Sanitation Law), which allows for the privatization of state drinking water and sewage disposal services. In effect, the law would make residents pay full cost for water services in Cochabamba.

January 2000
Rising Water Prices Spark Cochabamba Protests
Cochabamba protesters shut down the city for four days, going on strike and erecting roadblocks throughout the city. Residents protest the privatization of their municipally run water system and Aguas del Tunari's rate hikes, which have doubled and tripled their water bills. Aguas del Tunari had informed Bolivian officials that water rates would increase only by 35 percent, to cover the cost of expanding water delivery and to upgrade the city's water infrastructure.

February 4-5, 2000
Peaceful Protests Turn Violent
Fed up with government inaction, The Coalition for the Defense of Water and Life (La Coordinadora), led by union organizer and antiglobalization activist Oscar Olivera, makes a peaceful demonstration march to Cochabamba's city plaza.The march is marred by violence for 2 days -- riot police meet demonstrators with tear gas, injuring an estimated 175 and blinding two.
February 8, 2000

Word of the"War Over Water" Hits Western Press
"A War Over Water," an "on-the-scene" report on the clash between riot police and protesters in Cochabamba, is published by Pacific News Service correspondent Jim Shultz, who also serves as executive director of the Cochabamba-based The Democracy Center. Shultz will come to play a major role in educating the public and the Western media about events in Cochabamba by helping to expose the Bechtel Corporation's involvement and organizing a mass email-writing campaign directed to Bechtel's CEO, Riley Bechtel, to protest the company's actions.

March 22, 2000
La Coordinadora Holds Unofficial Referendum - 96 Percent Want Out
La Coordinadora holds an unofficial referendum in which an overwhelming majority -- 96 percent of 50,000 voters -- disapproves of water privatization and Aguas del Tunari's water contract in Cochabamba. Government officials refuse to consider terminating the contract.

April 3, 2000
Protests Spread Beyond Cochabamba Borders
Protests originating in Cochabamba's central plaza spread to La Paz and other cities and outlying rural communities. Thousands clash with riot police, erect roadblocks, and protest not only the water-rate hikes but the country's overall economic malaise and high unemployment.

April 6, 2000
La Coordinadora Leader Arrested
In what water protest leader and La Coordinadora spokesperson Oscar Olivera claims was a "trap," Olivera and his colleagues agree to meet with government officials in Cochabamba about the water-rate hikes. Police descend upon the meeting with Cochabamba's mayor, the governor and other civic leaders, briefly arresting Olivera and other coalition activists present at the talks.
April 8, 2000

State of Siege: 17-Year-Old Boy Shot Dead
President Hugo Banzer declares a "state of siege," a condition similar to martial law, which can be enacted for 90 days under the Bolivian constitution. It allows for the arrest and detention of individuals without warrants and the enforcement of curfews and travel restrictions. A 17-year-old boy, Victor Hugo Daza, is shot dead by a Bolivian Army captain who opened fire into a crowd of demonstrators. In March 2002, the captain -- allegedly trained by the School of the Americas, a U.S. military academy that has trained tens of thousands of Latin American soldiers, intelligence officers and law enforcement officials in combat tactics -- would be acquitted by a military tribunal.

April 9, 2000
Ammunition, Tear Gas, Injuries and Deaths
Riot police continue to assault protesters with live ammunition and tear gas. Police mutiny in La Paz and Santa Cruz to protest low wages. The April protests will leave six dead and dozens injured and forcibly detained by authorities.

April 10, 2000
Bolivian Government Changes Course - Gives Control to La Coordinadora
The latest wave of protest-related violence culminates in a historic victory for the residents of Cochabamba and their supporters. After four days in hiding, Oscar Olivera signs an agreement with the Bolivian government that guarantees the withdrawal of Aguas del Tunari, grants control of Cochabamba's water to La Coordinadora (the grassroots coalition led by Olivera), assures the release of detained protesters, and promises the repeal of water privatization legislation. Legislation that would have charged peasants for water drawn from local wells is also removed.

More:
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/timeline.html

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http://1worldcommunication.org.nyud.net:8090/CochabambaShooter.jpg

Sharpshooter brought in by the government to gun down protesters
during water protests in Cochabamba, Bolivia, as they protested
privatization and exploitation by a subsidiary of the Bechtel Corp.