Bechtel Set to Fold and a New Water Revolt Set to Begin

For readers who have followed The Democracy Center’s work on the Bolivian water revolt, two very important updates!

I am just back from a two day trip to La Paz. I met with the Bolivian Vice-Minister who has been handling the government’s negotiations with Bechtel, who you will recall was the mega-corporation behind the water takeover here in Cochabamba. The Vice-Minister verified that our international pressure campaign against Bechtel has worked and that the company is ready to drop its $25 million legal case against Bolivia - for a token sum of two Bolivianos, about 30 cents. The hold out is one of Bechtel’s smaller investment partners in the failed Bolivian water privatization, Bengoa of Spain. Stay tuned as we set to launch a major worldwide effort to bring the same public attention and pressure on Bengoa as we have on Bechtel.

Is Bolivia on the verge of a second public revolt against water privatization? It looks just that way. Citizens in El Alto, the sprawling, poor city above the capital of La Paz, are readying a mobilization to kick out a local water company controlled by the French water giant, Suez. The company has refused to extend service to nearly 200,000 residents of El Alto, and reportedly gives poor service at increasing prices to the families who are hooked up. Citizens have given the government until December 20th to announce the return of the water to public hands, threatening a direct takeover of El Alto’s water facilities. Negotiations between the government and the company continue.

We’ll be publishing a major article on both these events through our email newsletter later this week. If you don’t already receive that newsletter and would like to, write to us at info@democracyctr.org.