In September 1999, Bolivian officials signed a 40-year contract with a private company named Aguas del Tunari to take over the municipal water system of Cochabamba, the country’s third largest city. The company, largely owned by U.S. construction giant Bechtel, was the sole bidder for the contract, which guaranteed 15 percent annual profit in inflation-indexed dollars. With the encouragement of the… return to article
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Reader Comments (16)Page 1 of 1 pagesMy guess is that considering the massive amount of money they have invested in these countries, they are afraid to admit they have made a mistake for fear of what will happen, both from their stock holders (World taxpayers) and the people who go hungry because of the policies. Either that or they do not know what else to do. They had to be pretty blind and/or dumb in the first place to think these things would work in third world countries where resources are limited. Free trade doesn’t work for all levels of society in our country - we also have the haves and have nots.
Posted by Judi on Mar 5, 2004 at 8:43 AM A marvellous article. Strengthen and democratize public services NOW should become the mantra of the progressive movement!
Posted by James Paterson on Mar 7, 2004 at 12:39 PM The article alludes to the sometimes dismal performance of public utilities. They do pay their employees well but the public gets poor services and/or shortages. Even worse, these utilities are often a continual drain and national budgets, thus the need to go to the IMF or World Bank for bailouts.
Posted by Todd Anderson on Mar 8, 2004 at 1:10 AM Here in Australia public utilities always performed excellently. The problems only began with privatization. It’s garbage that people do better when they are privatized. It’s hard to think of a case in which they do.
Posted by James Paterson on Mar 8, 2004 at 8:06 AM It sickens me of how greedy some of the basturds are capable of being. If the WTO and IMF are to exist, they should stop the bullshit “contracts” and provide the funds for free, or at least find the money elsewhere than from rich-greedy countries *cough (US). That is some bullshit aid!
Posted by Will Hong on Mar 8, 2004 at 8:41 AM Funny the author didn’t mention the state of the water system in Cochabamba that precipitated the move to privatization. Every home in Cochabamba has a water tank on the roof. Why? Because each neighborhood only recieves water a couple of days a week. The wealthy have water trucked in to fill their tanks. Everyone else does without. It was not rate hikes per se that precipitated the protests, but the fear that a privatized water utility would actually start CHARGING for the water delivered. Most homes and businesses tap into the water system illegally and pay no fees currently. A typical workers paradise, no?
I would be more impressed if the author had, at least to give an impression of impartiality, talked about the sucsesses Bolivia has had in privatizing ENTEL (the telephone utility) LAB (the airline), as well as mineral exploration and extraction.
Posted by Jason Johnson on Mar 8, 2004 at 6:28 PM I’d like to learn more about the IMF, World Bank and the WTO. Who controls them. Where the “money” really comes from and what companies are beahind it.
Posted by maurice on Mar 9, 2004 at 4:57 AM Maurice,
Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commision and Comm 300 are good places to start.
Regards,
Owen
Posted by Owen on Mar 9, 2004 at 5:58 PM “find the money elsewhere than from rich-greedy countries”
Elsewhere?
You might do well to consider the aphorism of why people rob banks.
Posted by Nus on Mar 10, 2004 at 9:55 PM Two interesting analyses:
http://www.iisec.ucb.edu.bo/papers/cifdi.pdf
http://www.socwatch.org.uy/en/informeImpreso/pdfs/bolivia1998_eng.pdf
Posted by Nick Bruno on Mar 12, 2004 at 8:14 AM My, my, my but the uber corporations have been such busy bees. Who will come to their aid when the people of these underdeveloped countries have had enough and just take over all of what these big businesses have built? Power to the people. Nice article…...
Posted by Cynthia Gay Hollin on Mar 12, 2004 at 11:01 PM The IMF and World Bank policies represent the latest manifestation exploitative colonialism. Privatization policies lead to prone Third World governments that provide few necessary services for their citizens. And multinational corporations gain unfettered control of, and access to third world nationsí resources.
Third World governments are not very functional under these policies. They donít control the welfare of their citizens; the IMF, World Bank, and multinational corporations do.
Posted by Paul Murdock on Mar 14, 2004 at 7:58 AM I would like to know about the details of plunder and profit with reference to multinational corporations and their orchestra. The profile of perspective of how human rights being violated through the process of privatization is also expected.
Posted by Asgar Ali SABRI on Mar 15, 2004 at 4:50 AM The telecom industry is quoted in this article as guilty. The article provides however very little substance. I note with interest the reader comment on the more positive Bolivia Entel experience.
Posted by Rejean Beaulieu on Mar 17, 2004 at 4:23 AM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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