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The reversal of the water privatisation in Cochabamba, Colombia's third largest city, is one of the most well-known recent victories in the struggle against neo-liveral globalisation.
In November 1999, a consortium led by Bechtel (US) and Edison (Italy), acquired a 40-year concession to run the Cochabamba water company. After an civil uprising in April 2000, sparked by excessive price hikes, the consortium had to withdraw from Cochabamba. Bechtel and Edison are now using an Amsterdam-based letterbox firm in their attempt to extort 25 million US$ 'recompensation' from the Bolivian government.
Bolivian grassroots organisations and anti-globalist groups from other parts of the world are now campaigning to prevent this new form of corporate racketeering by Bechtel and Edison.
This web site provides information on the campaign in the Netherlands. We are planning an international tribunal, later this Spring, where experts and activists will be invited to testify against the role of the Dutch state, the transnational corporations Bechtel and Edison and the World Bank.
Contact: XminusY Solidarity Fund
Keizersgracht 132 / 1015 CW Amsterdam / tel: +31-20-6279661 / e-mail: kh@xminy.nl