[Previous entry: "Venezuela vice president to Sen. McCain: 'Go to hell'"] [Next entry: "Georgia Reopens Old Gas Line to Ease Post-Blast Shortage"]

01/25/2006:

"BECHTEL VS. BOLIVIA: THE PEOPLE WIN!"

The Cochabamba water revolt – which began exactly six years ago this month – will end this morning when Bechtel, one of the world’s most powerful corporations, formally abandons its legal effort to take $50 million from the Bolivian people. Bechtel made that demand before a secretive trade court operated by the World Bank, the same institution that coerced Bolivia to privatize the water to begin with. Faced with protests, barrages of e-mails, visits to their homes, and years of damaging press, Bechtel executives finally decided to surrender, walking away with a token payment equal to thirty cents. That retreat sets a huge global precedent.
ww4report.com