SOCECOL E8 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Cochabamba Water War, Spanish Company, Bilateral Investment Treaty

• School: UC-Irvine
• Department: Social Ecology
• Course: SOCECOL E8
• Professor: John M.Whiteley

Document Summary

Bechtel vs bolivia: details of the case and the campaign. In 1997 the world bank informed bolivia that it was making additional aid for water development conditioned upon the government privatizing the public water systems of two of its largest urban centers, El alto/la paz and the city of cochabamba. In september 1999, in a secret process with just one bidder, Bolivia"s government turned over cochabamba"s water to a company controlled by the california engineering giant, bechtel. Within a few weeks, bechtel"s company raised water rates by an average of more than 50%, sparking a citywide rebellion that has come to be known as the cochabamba water revolt. In april 2000, following a declaration of martial law by the president, the army killing of a seventeen-year-old boy (victor hugo. Daza), and more than a hundred wounded, the citizens of cochabamba refused to back down and.