The Struggle for Water in Bolivia
By Chris Ney, Disarmament Coordinator, War Resister's League.
As thousands of protesters filled Washington streets last April, closing the
U.S. capital to oppose the policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and
World Bank (WB), their peers in Bolivia were demanding the right to drinking
water.
Following massive protests against the privatization of the nation's water
supply, the Bolivian government declared martial law. A leader of the
movement, Oscar Olivera, escaped the repression and joined the Washington
protests. While applying for a U.S. visa, he told the press, "When
the economy is globalized, it is important to globalize the fight for the
people." The good news is that the people of Bolivia won their battle
through the power of nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience.
Extreme Privatization
In Washington, Olivera spoke to a standing-room-only crowd at a forum on
globalization. A few days later we spoke over the phone. "Cochabamba
is a district with approximately one million residents. For 50 years there
have been serious difficulties with water because of consumption and
agriculture. Living conditions deteriorated severely as a result of
privatization programs promoted by the WB, which claimed that public services
were inefficient. Almost everything has been privatized - the only thing
left is the water and the air."
Then, the government tried to privatize water. In September 1999, Bolivia
signed a contract with the San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation, turning over
control of Cochabamba's water to Aguas del Tunari, a private monopoly dominated
by Bechtel. A month later, at the urging of the WB, the government passed
a law retroactively legalizing the contract and
centralizing control of the water resources. In Cochabamba, Olivera
explained "only 50% of the city has connections [to the main water lines].
The other 50% has their own system or a cistern that is run by one of several
cooperatives. The new law abolished all [the independent systems]."
Water prices skyrocketing to pay for promised infrastructure improvements.
As a result, "[water] taxes increased 30 to 40%." This
made Bolivia's water rates higher than in many U.S. communities. What is
worse, added Olivera, "The service did not improve despite the increased
costs."
Unprecedented Coalition
In a rare union of urban and rural activists, a coalition of workers,
subsistence farmers, city residents and members of water cooperatives formed a
coordinating committee (coordinadora). Olivera, a 45-year-old machinist
and head of the Cochabamba Federation of Factory Workers, quickly took on a
leadership role.
In January 2000, the coalition staged a four-day, city-wide blockade and strike
which forced the government to make some concessions. It voided the
contract with Bechtel, but did not lower the price of water. "The
coordinadora then organized civil disobedience to not pay the fees," said
Olivera.
On February 4, the coalition staged a takeover of Cochabamba. Alarmed by
the mobilization of Indians and poor people, the government responded with
brutality, bringing in "gas, dogs and troops to repress the people."
Shortly afterward, however, the government agreed to review all aspects of the
water agreement.
The coalition then organized a referendum on March 22. More than 50,000
people participated and 96% voted against privatization, the Bechtel contract
and increased tariffs. There were allegations of corruption between the
company and government officials. Protesters also discovered that the
company had not paid for its electricity, telephone service or furniture.
A third protest was scheduled for April 4. The government detained all of
the directors of the coordinadora. Movement leaders were released, but the
people of Cochabamba were angry about increasing repression and government
propaganda alleging that drug smugglers organized the actions. Olivera
countered, "The grandmothers blocking my street were not
narcotraffickers."
Declaration of Martial Law
The protests were more successful with Cochabamba's local government than
with the national government. On April 7, Cochabamba's governor reached an
accord with the protesters. But the national government refused to
recognize the accord and declared a state of siege. "Troops were
given orders to detain and to kill."
Hard-line tactics backfired again and protests broadened. In the violence
that followed the declaration of martial law, many were wounded and a
17-year-old was killed by a military sharpshooter firing into a crowd. After
police arrested Bolivian Army Capt. Robinson Iriarte de la Fuente for murder,
human rights activists discovered he had graduated from the U.S.
Army's dreaded School of the Americas in 1978. (See page 24.)
Between April 8 and 14, according to the Weekly News Update on the Americas, at
least five others were killed, 74 wounded and 92 arrested. The government
still refused to negotiate with the coordinadora. This hard line proved
unsustainable and split the government. Some armed forces regiments
refused to act against the protesters.
Finally, on April 16, the crisis ended when Aguas del Tunari left the country
and the government terminated the contract. The government also agreed to
create a new entity to manage the waterworks, which will include the coordinator,
the city administration and the workers. The Bolivian government has begun
a public relations campaign to discredit the coalition, but Olivera is confident
it will fail. "The people have begun to demand not just water, but
democracy; to find their voices and not
to accept the dictates of international finance, the IMF or the WB."
Source: Nonviolent Activist, September/October 2000.
Published by the War
Resisters League.
Web site: www.nonviolence.org/wrl/nva0900-5.htm