|
|
|
|
|
|
TITLE: Reclaiming the Water |
AUTHOR: Oscar Olivera & Marcela Olivera |
PUB: |
DATE: December 15, 2000 |
|
(translated by Sasha Wright)
In april of this year the people of Cochabamba rose up against Bechtel, a multinational corporation who came with the intention of privatizing the distribution of potable water. Discontentment had been building in the surrounding rural areas of Cochabamba since the previous november due to a new nationwide water law which violated traditional usages and customs. In fact water scarcity and poor water management and distribution is a longstanding issue in Cochabamba that has increasingly worsened in the last ten years. In many neighborhoods, particularly in poor and rural areas, the residents have relayed on independent wells they have built themselves. The new water law gave Bechtel rights to all water distribution systems without compensation to those that had developed them. Although Bechtel was contracted with the understanding that they would invest 40 million dollars into the resource poor water projects of Cochabamba they brought not a cent and moreover planned to finance through rising water rates as much as 200 percent. In november of 1999 concerned citizens from a variety of sectors including farmers, factory workers, neighborhood associations, professional associations, students, coca farmers and transport workers united to form the Coordinadora de Defensa del Agua y la Vida. ( The Coalition for the Defense of Water and Life.) Although the Coordinadora had no political precedent or legal standing they soon gained legitimacy as the only representative body of the diverse groups in and surrounding Cochabamba. The Coordinadora inciated a series of mobilizations and protests from November to April that paralyzed the city and surrounding roads. On the 4th of february the Coordinator called for a peaceful seizure of the plaza, so we took it peacefully. It was a symbolic act, which demonstrated our unity. We came with flowers, entering the plaza from all four directions and there were bands playing. Although it was a party, the government and the elites were afraid that the Indians from the rural areas were going to loot the city. Government officials arrived and ordered us to disperse. The people agreed to leave and marched off in all four directions. We hadn?t gone more than a couple of hundred meters when there were gunshots. A thousand police officers appeared, some with dogs. Some had been sent from La Paz and other places to help the police of Cochabamba. There were 30,000 people and we fought for 2 days. It was practically a war -- 175 protesters were injured. In the end however there was another agreement reached with the government to revise the law and the contract and to roll back the water rates and freeze them until november. We demanded that the government break the contract and return the water system to public hands. And we put into place a new law with a lot of new provisions: we eliminated the dollarization, we set up provisions to honor the people?s traditional water rights, we gave participation to the municipalities and the people?s own systems were allowed to co-exist. It was an important advance in the law. But the contract with Bechtel remained intact. On April 4, once again the Coordinadora declared an indefinite road blockade. It was a similar action to the one before, but this time we were better prepared. The people prepared for it like for a war making molotov cocktails, booths, barbed wire fences, things to puncture tires, masks, everything. That night people began to fight in the streets with the police and by the next morning the number of participants was even greater. The state governor, together with some of the congressional representatives, decided they wanted to break the contract. They said, ?we have decided to present to the government a plan to break the contract, because we don?t want any more blood.? This was communicated to the bishop, who announced this in the plaza, where we erupted into a huge party. There were 30,000 people there, everyone dancing, etc. Afterwards there was a big mass. But then the word came from the national government in La Paz that they would not break the contract and, moreover, that they were announcing martial law. Soldiers started appearing in the city. On Sunday the violence got even worse. The whole city was fighting. Orders were given to the military commander to shoot the people, and he refused. On Sunday the superintendent appeared on national television and announced that ?we have talked with the company and they have decided voluntarily to leave the country.? However the government also said, ?we are going to go to Cochabamba, but we are not going to negotiate with the Coordinator because it is an illegal organization. Besides that, they are financed by drug traffickers.? This really got the people angry. The little old ladies who were blockading the streets were standing there scratching their heads, saying ?what us, drug dealers?? Also, a 17 year old kid was killed by a sharpshooter and this really infuriated people. By Monday there were more than 80,000 people in the streets, and the people said, if they don?t change that law, we will take charge of the government. The new demand of the people was that not only the company leave as a partner, but also the president of the Republic. Meanwhile, a government delegation arrived and met with us in Cochabamba. Although there were some in the government who said they didn?t care how many people died in the streets, and while the opposition party may have wanted some deaths in the streets to discredit the government, the Coordinadora negotiated an agreement. We drafted a memo for the government to break the contract, and faxed it to La Paz, and after much discussion they faxed it back, signed. The Congress modified the law, with all the changes we had outlined. So the same day, we lifted the blockades, after 8 days. And on Wednesday, the control of the water returned to the town, and the Coordinadora remained as strong decision making presence. What happened in april was important because not only did we kick out a transnational corporation and change a law, but we won a battle against neoliberalism and privatization which have been destroying the workers movements and appropriating more and more of our resources over the last 15 years. These policies have their origin in the World Bank and International Monetary Fund who run our economy to their benefit. We have learned that we can win against whatever force that is trying to run our public services in a manner that harmful for the people, be it local government, national government or global economic powers. In this case it was all of these forces, and it was the common people who brought justice. It is also important that all the sense of individualism, the isolation, the fear of the unemployment which have defined our country under neoliberalism, disappeared under the spirit of solidarity and this came out of the self-mobilization of the people. During the worst fighting, there were people who provided water, who provided food, who provided transportation, communication, all the elements of a well-coordinated resistance. People lost their fear of bullets. Most importantly we regained our drive to run our own resources and build real democracy. We are tired of a government dominated by political parties that listens to its international financiers and their neoliberal agenda instead of their own people. What happened in april was only the beginning, and now we have gained our right to self-manage Cochabamba´s water systems. The same issues of water scarcity and lack of money for investment still exist, however we are constantly visiting neighborhoods and working with the residents in order to improve the services that exist. We continue to work with the national company that previously ran Cochabamba´s water however now a coalition of citizens that comprise the Coordinadora and the neighborhood associations have a say. We are working to develop water distribution in a manner that provides for all citizens, including poor and rural neighborhoods, and we have knowledge and respect for the traditional water uses of the people. The struggle of april have also inspired us in the Coordinadora and other sectors as well to work for radical changes in our political system and the neoliberal model that were the cause of this crisis and in crisises all through Bolivian society. From our successes in april, we know we can succeed in these broader issues. I am glad to have the opportunity to share our experiences with you, because the lack of potable water is a growing problem all over the world, particularly in the global south, and I hope our victory can be an inspiration and example for your respective struggles against privatization and the threats to the basic goods of life. In every march and mobilization that we can remember, we have always chanted a refrain that says ?El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido.? (The people united will never be defeated.) Since april, this saying has ceased to be a refrain and has become a reality. Only through unity between each other can we be heard, will our ideas be taken into account. We must gather together not only between citizens of the same country, but between those in each country that lack our most basic rights, among the oppressed peoples of the world. We hope that from this conference, this project can become reality. END |