Sunday, April 9th Cochabamba, Bolivia
Dear Friends:
The situation here in Bolivia remains critical. Since the declaration of martial law yesterday at least three
people have been killed, including a 17 year old boy shot by soldiers with live ammunition here in Cochabamba. More than
30 people in Cochabamba alone have been injured from conflicts with the military. Respected leaders of the water
protests have been jailed, some flown to a remote location in Bolivia's jungle. Soldiers continue to occupy the city's
center. However, there is now something very real and straightforward you can do to help.
The massive protests that prompted the declaration of martial law here were prompted by the sale of Cochabamba's
public water system to a private corporation (Aguas del Tunari, owned by International Water Limited) which then doubled
water rates for poor families that can barely afford to feed themselves. It turns out that that the main financial power
behind that water corporation in the Bechtel Corporation, based in San Francisco (Source: http://www.bechtel.com/whatnew/1999artsq4.html).
The people of Bolivia have made it very clear that they want Bechtel out. The Bolivian government is so
committed to protecting Bechtel that it has declared martial law and killed its own people. While some in the government
here are saying this afternoon that Bechtel will leave, given the government's reversal on the same promise Friday the
statement has no credibility here ansent a written agreement and end to martial law. It is critical that pressure be
brought to bear directly on Bechtel in the US. You can help, here's how:
1) Send an e-mail, letter, fax or make a phone call to:
Riley Bechtel, Chairman and CEO, Bechtel Corp E-mail: northame@bechtel.com Tel: (415) 768-1234 Fax:
(415) 768-9038 Address: 50 Beale Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
2) The Message:
"Bolivians have made it absolutely clear that they want Bechtel's water company, Aguas de Tunari, out of
Bolivia, through a week of huge protests that have nearly shut down the country. To protect Bechtel, the Bolivian
government has now put the country under martial law, leaving many dead and wounded. Bechtel has a responsibility to
honor the wishes of Bolivians and bring the crisis to an end by immediatley signing an agreement to turn the water
system back over to Bolivians."
3) Please send this information as far and wide as you can. More than 1,000 other are receiving this message today. Even
100 e-mails ro calls to Bechtel Monday will make an enormous difference.
To give you some additional context on events here I am including below an article, which I published in
Saturday's San Jose Mercury News. The article went to press just before the government reversed position and declared
martial law.
Many thanks,
Jim Shultz The Democracy Center
Bolivian Protesters Win War Over Water
COCHABAMBA, BOLIVIA
In a stunning concession to four days of massive public uprisings, the Bolivian government announced late Friday
afternoon that it was breaking the contract it signed last year that sold the region's water system to a consortium of
British-led investors.
A general strike and road blockades that began Tuesday morning in Cochabamba shut down the city of half a million,
leaving the usually crowded streets virtually empty of cars and closing schools, businesses and the city's
25-square-block marketplace, one of Latin America's largest.
The government's surprise agreement to reverse the water privatization deal follows four months of public protest. It
came just as it appeared that President Hugo Banzer Suarez was preparing to declare martial law, possibly triggering
fighting in the streets between riot police and the thousands of angry protesters who seized control of the city's
central plaza.
Greater meaning
While rumors are surfacing that the government might backtrack on their promise, for Bolivians the popular victory
apparently won over water has much wider meaning. ``We're questioning that others, the World Bank, international
business, should be deciding these basic issues for us,'' said protest leader Oscar Olivera. ``For us, that is
democracy.''
The selling-off of public enterprises to foreign investors has been a heated economic debate in Bolivia for a decade,
as one major business after another -- the airline, the train system, electric utilities -- has been sold into private
(almost always foreign) hands. Last year's one-bidder sale of Cochabamba's public water system, a move pushed on
government officials by the World Bank, the international lending institution, brought the privatization fight to a
boil.
In January, as the new owners erected their shiny new ``Aguas del Tunari'' logo over local water facilities, the company
also slapped local water users with rate increases that were as much as double. In a city where the minimum wage is less
than $100 per month, many families were hit with increases of $20 per month and more.
Tanya Paredes, a mother of five who supports her family as a clothes-knitter, says her increase, $15 per month, was
equal to what it costs to feed her family for 1 1/2 weeks. ``What we pay for water comes out of what we have to pay for
food, clothes and the other things we need to buy for our children,'' she said.
Public anger over the rate increases, led by a new alliance, known here as ``La Coordinadora,'' exploded in mid-January
with a four-day shutdown of the city, stunning the government and forcing an agreement to reverse the rate increases.
In early February, when the promises never materialized, La Coordinadora called for a peaceful march on the city's
central plaza. Banzer (who previously ruled as a dictator from 1971-78) met the protesters with more than 1,000 police
and an armed takeover of La Cochabamba's center. Two days of police tear gas and rock-throwing by marchers left more
than 175 protesters injured and two youths blinded.
February's violent clashes forced the government and the water company to implement a rate rollback and freeze until
November, and to agree to a new round of negotiations.
Deal scrutinized
Meanwhile, La Coordinadora, aided by the local College of Economists, began to scrutinize both the contract and the
finances behind the water company's new owners. While the actual financial arrangements remain mostly hidden, the city's
leading daily newspaper reported that investors paid the government less than $20,000 of upfront capital for a water
system worth millions.
Amid charges of corruption and collusion in the contract by some of the officials who approved it last year, La
Coordinadora announced what it called la ultima batalla (the final battle), demanding that the government break the
contract and return the water system to public hands. The group set Tuesday as the deadline for action.
Government water officials warned that private investors were needed to secure the millions of dollars needed to expand
this growing region's water system. They argued that breaking the contract would entitle the owners to a $12 million
compensation fee, and pleaded for public patience to give the new owners time to show the benefits of their experience.
Among the vast majority of Cochabamba water users, however, that patience had run out. Two weeks ago, an inquiry
surveyed more than 60,000 local residents about the water issue and more than 90 percent voted that the government
should break the contract. During one of the marches this week protesters stopped at the water company's offices,
tearing down the new ``Aguas del Tunari'' sign erected just three months ago.
Tuesday, city residents took to the street with bicycles and soccer balls -- only a few cars moved across town to take
advantage of the day off from work and school. By Wednesday, armies of people from the surrounding rural areas, fighting
a parallel battle over a new law threatening popular control of rural water systems, began arriving, reinforcing the
road blockades, and puncturing car and bicycle tires. Thursday night, with another day of wages lost and no sign of
movement from the government, public anger started to erupt.
Bolivian Protesters Win War Over Water Protesters arrested
A crowd of nearly 500 surrounded the government building where negotiations, convened by the Roman Catholic archbishop,
were taking place between protest leaders and government officials. In the middle of negotiations, the government
ordered the arrest of 15 La Coordinadora leaders and others present in the meeting.
``We were talking with the mayor, the governor, and other civil leaders when the police came in and arrested us,'' said
Olivera, La Coordinadora's most visible leader. ``It was a trap by the government to have us all together, negotiating,
so that we could be arrested.''
In response, thousands of city and rural residents filled the city's central plaza opposite the government building,
carrying sticks, rocks and handkerchiefs to help block the anticipated tear gas. Television and radio reports speculated
all day that the president would declare martial law, and there were reports of army units arriving at the city's
airport.
Freed from jail early Friday morning, the leaders of water protests agreed to a 4 p.m. meeting with the government,
called by the archbishop. At 5 p.m., government officials still had not arrived and the plaza crowd waited tensely for
the expected arrival of the army.
Suddenly and unexpectedly, the archbishop walked into the meeting and announced that the government had just told him
that it had agreed to break the water contract. Jubilant La Coordinadora leaders crossed the street to a third-floor
balcony, announcing the victory to the thousands waiting below, many waving the red-green-and-yellow Bolivian flag, as
the bells of the city's cathedral echoed through the city center.
"We have arrived at the moment of an important economic victory," Olivera told the ecstatic crowd.
ends