Bolivia: Demonizing victims of water privatization
Date: 11 Apr 2000 10:39:48 -0400

This story seems to be disappearing from the news - not that the  
the role of the privatizers, the enforcers of "new" economic policies 
got much publicity anyway. Maybe this Bolivian "problem" is just 
minor when compared with what the enforcers ghave achieved in 
the last few decades !

Michael

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Agence France Presse

Tuesday, April 11 3:09 AM SGT

Tension mounts in Bolivia over water prices

LA PAZ, April 10 (AFP) -

Military troops reinforced their control of roads in the high Andean 
region of Bolivia Monday as tens of thousands of Bolivian 
peasants, armed with broomsticks and machetes, occupied the city 
square in Cochabamba, protesting the government's water policy.

The protesters, who marched in from the nearby town of Quillacollo, 
demanded the government change its Basic Sanitation and Sewer
 Law, which seeks to privatize water use in indigenous communities, 
according to peasant leader Alberto Zapata.

In response, the government took control of roads around the 
country to prevent protesters from putting up road blocks.

"As of now, we have nothing new to report, but we cannot dismiss 
the possibility of new road blocks" Admiral Jorge Zabala said 
Monday.

Bolivian Information Minister, Ronald MacLean, denounced the 
"subversive" character of the demonstrations, accusing them of 
being "financed by drug traffickers."

"This is nothing but an excuse to trouble the country," he said, 
adding that "in light of the lack of security," the government had 
canceled plans to send a delegation in to talk with the demonstrators.

The increased military deployment came after violent weekend 
clashes between civilians and the military that left five dead, 
including a soldier, and some 40 people injured.

Zapata declared the national farmworkers union was ready to 
negotiate with the government, but warned that "if that fails, we will 
maintain our road blocks."

Over the weekend, at least five people were killed and dozens 
injured in clashes between civilians and military around La Paz and 
Cochabamba, which lies 450 kilometers (300 miles) southeast of the 
capital.

The unrest centered in Achacachi, La Paz and Cochabamba, Bolivia's 
second-largest city, where public dissatisfaction over rising water 
prices turned into a massive strike and protests last week when the 
government announced a controversial plan to build a dam nearby.

On Monday, the British-Spanish-Bolivian water consortium Aguas 
del Tunari pulled out of their contract to build the dam, costing the 
government some 10 million dollars, according to the country's 
Water Superintendent Luis Uzin.

On Saturday, the Bolivian government declared a 90-day state of 
emergency hoping to end the intensifying conflicts. But the move 
only sparked more clashes between protesters and authorities.

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