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Bolivia
"Without water there is no life, so really it is life that the company is depriving the people of El Alto."
Julian Perez, advisor to the Federation of El Alto Neighbourhoods.
In El Alto, Bolivia, demonstrations and a peaceful general strike early in 2005 forced the Government to terminate the contract held by the private consortium Aguas del Illimani - whose main share holder is water multinational Suez.
According to those leading the demonstrations, water privatisation resulted in excessive price hikes with connection charges for water and sewerage being raised to £247 in a country where the minimum wage is just £33 per month. The Bolivian Government says that the company has left more than 200,000 people with no possibility of access to water by failing to expand water infrastructure to the growing outskirts of the municipality.
Suez is now threatening to file a lawsuit against the Government of Bolivia in the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes - an arm of the World Bank. But with the World Bank owning eight per cent of Aguas del Illimani - there is a clear conflict of interest.
Interview with Oscar Olivera, leader of the Coordinadora in defense of water and life of Cochabamba
Interview with Abel Mamani, first Minister of Water for Bolivia
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