“IT’S THE PEOPLE’S WATER, CARAJO!”
In February and March 2000, public protests broke out in the city of Cochabamba, in response to the skyrocketing price of water. In 1999, under pressure from the World Bank, Bolivia granted a 40-year privatisation lease to Aguas del Tunari, a subsidiary of the San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation, giving it control over the water on which more than half a million people depend. Immediately the company tripled or even quadrupled water rates for some of South America’s poorest families. The rate hike meant up to half of their monthly income went to paying for water.
Outraged citizens took to the streets to demand that the privatization and the rate hikes be reversed. A general strike shut down the city for four days. Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested, scores injured and
several killed by police. The government declared a state of emergency. Soon after, the executives of Aguas del Tunari fled from Cochabamba and its water system was handed over to the citizens’ group, which had coordinated the opposition to privatization.
