The Cochabamba protests of 2000, also known as the "Cochabamba Water Wars," were a series of protests that took place in Cochabamba, Bolivia's third largest city, between January and April 2000 because of the privatization of the municipal water supply.
The restoration of civilian rule to Bolivia in 1982 ended decades of military dictatorships, but did not bring economic stability. In 1985 with hyperinflation at an annual rate of twenty-five thou...
more
The Cochabamba protests of 2000, also known as the "Cochabamba Water Wars," were a series of protests that took place in Cochabamba, Bolivia's third largest city, between January and April 2000 because of the privatization of the municipal water supply.
The restoration of civilian rule to Bolivia in 1982 ended decades of military dictatorships, but did not bring economic stability. In 1985 with hyperinflation at an annual rate of twenty-five thousand percent, few foreign investors would do business in the country. The Bolivian government turned to the World Bank as a last refuge against economic meltdown. For the next 20 years, successive governments followed the World Bank's provisions in order to qualify for continued loans from the organization. In order to move towards independent development, Bolivia privatised its railways, telephone system, national airlines, and hydrocarbon industry.
According to The Ecologist, in 2000 the World Bank declared it would not "renew" a $25 million...
less
