Question

Conclusion of bolivia ‘s water war

Answer 1

1. This April is the 15th anniversary of the Cochabamba Water War. It was an epic chapter in Bolivian history, where a united people caused the expulsion of a powerful transnational corporation that had privatized their water. The story of the water war as a struggle of the people against a corporate Goliath is one that inspires movements all across the world that are fighting to reclaim their water and natural resources from corporate control and destruction; and for a change in the model of democracy where only a few have power.
3. The Cochabamba Water War has drawn the attention of dozens of organizers, intellectuals, artists, researchers, journalists and academics from many parts of the world, who have visited the city to deepen their understanding of what happened here in April of 2000. And the story of the battle has been told in many documentaries as The Corporation or Blue Gold; different media outlets like the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Guardian and Democracy Now!; and in dozens of alternative media outlets. The story inspired the film ‘Even the Rain,’ which was made in the streets of Cochabamba.
5. There is no doubt that this historic event has left an important legacy in Bolivia and the world; about the importance of reclaiming water from corporate control, but also about people reclaiming decision-making power over their own lives. Yet still people wonder ‘What happened in Cochabamba, and in Bolivia, after the Water War?’, and ‘What’s Bolivian water policy like now?’ These are the questions that the principal actors in the struggle of 2000 sought to answer this month at the 15th anniversary celebration in Cochabamba.
7. The Water War and its Legacy
8. The history of the Water War is characterized by a simple and powerful narrative: in 1997 the World Bank gave Bolivia a loan to improve the water system in its largest cities, including Cochabamba, in exchange for privatization of those water systems. In September of 1999 the government handed over Cochabamba’s water, without any public consultation, to a consortium led by California engineering giant Bechtel Corporation, which shortly after raises water rates enormously, unleashing a popular rebellion unprecedented. In April of 2000, after the government (led by an ex-dictator) had imposed a state of siege on the city and left a young man dead (Victor Hugo Daza) and dozens injured, Bechtel had to leave Bolivia.
10. Oscar Olivera, spokesperson for the Coalition in Defense of Water and Life (a group of organizations that led the rebellion of April 2000) says that for many people this struggle meant “the reclaiming of their water as a fundamental resource, but also the reclaiming of their dignity, confidence, and capacity to organize and shape their own futures themselves.” Indeed, after the Water War Bolivia saw a wave of popular resistance against the neoliberal policies imposed on the country during the 80s and the resulting corporate takeover of natural resources, as well as calling for the building of a new Constituent Assembly to design a new model of country and democracy.
12. At the international level the Water War also left an important legacy – it was a benchmark for the anti-globalization movement of the time, and it helped to unmask the global corporate strategy of water privatization. The symbol of the water war has inspired other movements around the world that are defending water as a common good and not a product to be profited from.
14. This concept of water as a common good was later adopted in the new Bolivian Constitution, which enshrines access to water as a fundamental right, and assigns to the State the task of providing it. At the international level, in June 2010 the General Assembly of the United Nations recognised the basic human rights to water and sanitation in a resolution.
16. And after the Water War… What?
17. In order to respond to that question Oscar Olivera, together with others involved in the issue, organized several days of events remembering and reflecting on the Water War, 15 years on. The events also sought to explore the water situation in Cochabamba city, as well as regional and national water and environmental policy.