Cochabamba Narrative
2000
¡El Agua Es Nuestra, Carajo! -
The Water is Ours, Damn It!
Between November 1999 and April 2000, the indigenous and under-class people of Cochabamba “shut down the city with strikes and roadblocks.” State officials were truly scared that the “Indians are coming to seize the city.” But actually the call from the organizers came in a symbolic way, meaning that they wanted to take over the main square – la toma de la plaza, which they claimed was always theirs.
So what preceded all this? In a nutshell, the privatization of water came in the form of Bolivian Law 2029, governing water distribution, especially to rural areas. The law even prohibited the free use of people’s wells in private land and collecting rain water in tanks. President Evo Morales commented on this: “Without light, we can live […] with oil lamps, but without water we cannot live.” It turned out, that the Bolivian government approached IMF (International Monetary Fund) to help the region out with a loan. The IMF would make Cochabamba’s mayor accept a $14 million loan with the condition to privatize their water service. John Briscoe, the World Bank’s senior water official said it bluntly: “[…] getting water to poor communities is not a moral, but a practical question. […] water owned by the public managed by the public hasn’t done us any good in decades.” Subsequently, the Cochabamba government put up a bid to foreign investors. The winner was Bechtel from San Francisco, one of the largest engineering firms in the world with seemingly endless resources and global power. Bechtel formed a subsidiary, Aguas del Tunari, to manage the water supply. Cochabambinos were faced with 200 percent rate hikes, in some cases, $20/month for people whose monthly income didn’t exceed $60. The indigenous people of Bolivia look at water as somewhat sacred. “Water is s right for us, not something to be sold” they say. “The right to water is also tied to traditional beliefs since
¡El Agua Es Nuestra, Carajo! -
The Water is Ours, Damn It!
Between November 1999 and April 2000, the indigenous and under-class people of Cochabamba “shut down the city with strikes and roadblocks.” State officials were truly scared that the “Indians are coming to seize the city.” But actually the call from the organizers came in a symbolic way, meaning that they wanted to take over the main square – la toma de la plaza, which they claimed was always theirs.
So what preceded all this? In a nutshell, the privatization of water came in the form of Bolivian Law 2029, governing water distribution, especially to rural areas. The law even prohibited the free use of people’s wells in private land and collecting rain water in tanks. President Evo Morales commented on this: “Without light, we can live […] with oil lamps, but without water we cannot live.” It turned out, that the Bolivian government approached IMF (International Monetary Fund) to help the region out with a loan. The IMF would make Cochabamba’s mayor accept a $14 million loan with the condition to privatize their water service. John Briscoe, the World Bank’s senior water official said it bluntly: “[…] getting water to poor communities is not a moral, but a practical question. […] water owned by the public managed by the public hasn’t done us any good in decades.” Subsequently, the Cochabamba government put up a bid to foreign investors. The winner was Bechtel from San Francisco, one of the largest engineering firms in the world with seemingly endless resources and global power. Bechtel formed a subsidiary, Aguas del Tunari, to manage the water supply. Cochabambinos were faced with 200 percent rate hikes, in some cases, $20/month for people whose monthly income didn’t exceed $60. The indigenous people of Bolivia look at water as somewhat sacred. “Water is s right for us, not something to be sold” they say. “The right to water is also tied to traditional beliefs since