Tensions rise in Cochabamba as a 'Guerra de Gas' looks iminent.
Tessa Kipping | 19.07.2003 21:24 | Social Struggles | London
Recent events in Cochabamba have escalated in the last couple of days, people have taken to the streets to protest against another proposed privatisation. This time the government wants to sell their gas to Chile.
The Bolivian government´s impending deal with Chile to sell off Bolivias Gas has caused a mini revolt in Cochabamba. People conduct mass public disscussions in the main square, berating the government for its corruption, the americans for their involvement and imploring each other to take action. Two stalls set up full of political literature are daily selling out of the most popular pamphlets, ‘ALCA, area de libre comercio de las Americas, (ftaa)’ and an informative leaflet about the sale of gas to Chile. Current articles are pinned up on boards highlighted in the most proocative places, people read them, some blankly, others with frustration, yet no one here is really surprised.
The current government were in power during the Guerra de Agua where water rates rockected after a privatisation deal, leading to mass protesting, the death of a seventeen year old boy and the eventually fleaing of the American company Bechtel. (Not without sueing the government $25 million compensation, in an act of goodwill they didn’t include loss of profit). People here know how corrupt the government is, and a deep distrust is spreading faster everyday.
In the last two days two marches have been held, one for the town and the other for the ‘campesinos’ from smaller towns and villages in the area. Both against the gas sale, Ftaa and generally letting the government that the Cochabambinos will not be lied to anymore.
A great fear here is that the money from the gas sale will go to lining the pockects of the powerful, ‘Goni’, (the current President) and his cronies. Time and time again the Bolivians have wittnessed mass capital flowing into the country via World Bank loans and foreign investment in the name of economic growth and poverty reduction, yet little has filtered down to the public.
In fact a mass privatisation campaign, (in the name of stabilisation and neo-liberalism), since the mid eighties has lead to vast job losses, people working in the mines or on the railways and a handful of other national services have had to find other means too feed their families after foreign companies deemed these industries un profitable and shut them down.
This has resulted in the ultimate capitalist orgy that occurs everyday just south of the center, called ‘La Chanca’. Shoddy market stalls streach for what seems like miles, (about nine city blocks), and everything from plastic flowers, to Gucci rip offs and drill heads can be consumed here. Bolivia contains eight million people in total, one wonders how long people with no money can continue buying and whether anyone can feasible make a living out here. ‘La Chanca’ is obviously not keeping everybody happy and this week people have taken to the streets.
The march I joined was set to begin at two, that meant about three thirty we were off. Women marched at the front and men at the back, the crowd was organised in to three straight lines, keeping note of the two people in the rows next them they marched, slowly and quitely. Once in a while someone would set off a fire cracked and brief attempts at chanting were tried, but this was not a celebration of another possible world or an angry violent mob charging against the police. People here are past desperation, they need the government to listen, to give them jobs and restore their dignity.
In the womens section people carried children on their back, women in traditional dress and young school girls all kept in line. The structure of the marchers was a symbol of the organisation of the movement and as they marched many clapped their hands together slowly, maybe not having the energy anymore to scream and shout.
People are poor, not stupid, they want to keep the gas in the country, and use it to create a petrol chemical industry. University students and construccion workers have told me that they want a self sufficient Boliva, that the money should circulate here not get swept up in a flurry of foreign capital flight. Graffiti on the streets declaring ‘coca si, yankees no’, and ‘the worst drug is power’ illustrates how widespread the consenus is. The repeated ideas are that these people are fed up with being exploited, that they can develope alone. That the upcoming ftaa will certainly by free trade but not for the Bolivians. The gas sale to chile is just another example that the politicians are not trying to reduce poverty or industrialise the country but are getting into bed with foreign corporations, transnationals, economic institutions and ultimatly the Ftaa. In the last two days the Cochabambinos have taken to the streets to say that enough is enough; Another World is Possible.
The current government were in power during the Guerra de Agua where water rates rockected after a privatisation deal, leading to mass protesting, the death of a seventeen year old boy and the eventually fleaing of the American company Bechtel. (Not without sueing the government $25 million compensation, in an act of goodwill they didn’t include loss of profit). People here know how corrupt the government is, and a deep distrust is spreading faster everyday.
In the last two days two marches have been held, one for the town and the other for the ‘campesinos’ from smaller towns and villages in the area. Both against the gas sale, Ftaa and generally letting the government that the Cochabambinos will not be lied to anymore.
A great fear here is that the money from the gas sale will go to lining the pockects of the powerful, ‘Goni’, (the current President) and his cronies. Time and time again the Bolivians have wittnessed mass capital flowing into the country via World Bank loans and foreign investment in the name of economic growth and poverty reduction, yet little has filtered down to the public.
In fact a mass privatisation campaign, (in the name of stabilisation and neo-liberalism), since the mid eighties has lead to vast job losses, people working in the mines or on the railways and a handful of other national services have had to find other means too feed their families after foreign companies deemed these industries un profitable and shut them down.
This has resulted in the ultimate capitalist orgy that occurs everyday just south of the center, called ‘La Chanca’. Shoddy market stalls streach for what seems like miles, (about nine city blocks), and everything from plastic flowers, to Gucci rip offs and drill heads can be consumed here. Bolivia contains eight million people in total, one wonders how long people with no money can continue buying and whether anyone can feasible make a living out here. ‘La Chanca’ is obviously not keeping everybody happy and this week people have taken to the streets.
The march I joined was set to begin at two, that meant about three thirty we were off. Women marched at the front and men at the back, the crowd was organised in to three straight lines, keeping note of the two people in the rows next them they marched, slowly and quitely. Once in a while someone would set off a fire cracked and brief attempts at chanting were tried, but this was not a celebration of another possible world or an angry violent mob charging against the police. People here are past desperation, they need the government to listen, to give them jobs and restore their dignity.
In the womens section people carried children on their back, women in traditional dress and young school girls all kept in line. The structure of the marchers was a symbol of the organisation of the movement and as they marched many clapped their hands together slowly, maybe not having the energy anymore to scream and shout.
People are poor, not stupid, they want to keep the gas in the country, and use it to create a petrol chemical industry. University students and construccion workers have told me that they want a self sufficient Boliva, that the money should circulate here not get swept up in a flurry of foreign capital flight. Graffiti on the streets declaring ‘coca si, yankees no’, and ‘the worst drug is power’ illustrates how widespread the consenus is. The repeated ideas are that these people are fed up with being exploited, that they can develope alone. That the upcoming ftaa will certainly by free trade but not for the Bolivians. The gas sale to chile is just another example that the politicians are not trying to reduce poverty or industrialise the country but are getting into bed with foreign corporations, transnationals, economic institutions and ultimatly the Ftaa. In the last two days the Cochabambinos have taken to the streets to say that enough is enough; Another World is Possible.
Tessa Kipping
e-mail:
tessakipping18@hotmail.com