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NEWS & LETTERS, January-February 2005New Bolivian revoltsBolivia experienced a new series of revolts at the end of 2004 and the beginning of 2005. In October the one year anniversary of the 2003 revolt that brought down the Sanchez de Lozada presidency was remembered with massive marches, especially in the city of El Alto, that demanded Sanchez de Lozada be extradited from the U.S. and forced to stand trial. Then in November El Alto kept the heat on Carlos Mesa's government with further strikes that demanded the French-controlled firm Aguas de Illimani, which provides water services to La Paz and El Alto, have its contract rescinded for failure to provide the services it's supposed to. Five years ago another "water war" forced a different multinational corporation from the city of Cochabamba. La Mesa inadvertently gave this movement a huge boost when, on Jan. 31, he followed IMF dictates and cut a state subsidy for gasoline and diesel, which not only drove up the prices of those products but also affected prices for other basic consumption goods. In the first two weeks of January there were huge marches and work stoppages in La Paz, Cochabamba, El Alto and Santa Cruz (the latter city produces a third of Bolivia's GDP). After the first week the government backed down and agreed to get Aguas de Illimani out of El Alto, but it did little to stem the anger Bolivians feel for Mesa, who has done next to nil to change Bolivia's course since the 2003 rebellion. The Federation of Neighborhood Organizations (Fejuve, which played a central role in the 2003 revolt) has been keeping the pressure on the government to insure that access to water now be controlled by the residents of El Alto, and not the state. --Mitch Weerth |
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