RIGHTS: World Bank Distances Self from Bolivian Activist’s Arrest

By Emad Mekay Reprint | | Print |

Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, Dec 2 2001 (IPS) - The World Bank is distancing itself from the arrest of a Bolivian shoe factory worker turned civil society hero for his opposition to the privatisation and export of his Andean nation’s water resources.

Oscar Olivera, one of the leaders of a grassroots movement that successfully reversed certain water privatisation efforts in Bolivia last year, was arrested last week on charges including “sedition, conspiracy, instigating public disorder, and criminal association,” Marcela Olivera, his sister, said in a statement. He was subsequently released but the charges against him were not dropped.

Olivera, who is president of the Cochabamba Federation of Factory Workers and a spokesperson for the Coalition in Defence of Water and Life was involved in an ongoing fight against plans by the government of President Jorge Quiroga Ramirez to sell water to neighbouring countries on the advice of international financial institutions.

The World Bank has been the frequent butt of Olivera’s criticisms because of its role in setting the tone and tempo of economic policy in borrowing countries including Bolivia.

Bank spokesperson Alejandra Viveros denied any connection to the plans. “We are not financing water projects there,” she said. “We have absolutely nothing to do with it. We are not involved there.”

Marcela Olivera said her brother’s only crime was “opposing water privatisation.” She complained that arresting her brother was a violation of rights of association and protest clearly stated in the Bolivian constitution.

The Bolivian embassy in Washington declined comment.

“These absurd charges were originally filed earlier this year, in a move clearly aimed at dividing peaceful opponents of the government and discouraging the exercise of the right to association and protest,” said Marcela, herself an activist.

Since his release from detention Nov. 28, reportedly for lack of evidence, Oscar has been required to report to authorities every 72 hours on pain of incarceration.

Activists here are mounting a letter-writing campaign in response to a request from Marcela that they write to Quiroga, the U.S. ambassador in La Paz, and “those in power here, demanding that such abuses must stop.”

“We in the global campaign for justice have been shocked by the news [of his arrest],” said Neil Watkins, of the Washington-based Centre for Economic Justice, a group promoting a boycott of World Bank bonds.

As the weekend approached, some of Olivera’s U.S.-based supporters voiced cautious optimism the charges against him would be dropped.

“There seems to be an informal agreement now that the charges could be dropped,” said Ravi Khanna, director of One World Communications, who added he was in touch with Olivera’s family in Bolivia. “It has not happened yet but activists rallied around Olivera and the pressure seems to be working.”

Beto Borges, programme coordinator with the San Francisco-based Goldman Environmental Prize, which Olivera won earlier this year, said Bolivian authorities “were never pleased with his victory on water privatisation. This is their way to show that they are still discontented and that they haven’t forgiven him yet.”

In 1999, the Bolivian government carried out a plan to transfer the city of Cochabamba’s water system to a private consortium including a subsidiary of U.S.-based Bechtel. The consortium increased rates for local water users by as much as 200 percent, sparking massive protests by workers, environmentalists, artisans, peasants, and others.

Olivera blasted the World Bank for recommending that all public subsidies be lifted and the price of water allowed to float freely. The Bank denied the allegation, sparking a row in which activists quoted the lender’s president, James Wolfensohn, as saying rates had to be raised to prevent people from taking for granted and wasting free or low-cost public services.

In April 2000, having survived clashes with police and the imposition of martial law, the coalition succeeded in winning Bechtel’s withdrawal, revisions of some water laws, and the release of comrades detained during the conflict.

“The reason why Olivera became such a symbol is because he is a very humble, unassuming, incorruptible person who is very honest to his roots as a factory worker,” said Khanna. “The government there managed to buy others through government jobs and other ways but they could never buy him. It was clear that now they wanted to make an example out of him.”

Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in South America. The country began an economic adjustment programme under the auspices of the World Bank and the International Monterrey Fund (IMF) in the 1980s after the market for tin, a critical export, collapsed and the country slid into severe recession.

Austerity, currency, and tax measures implemented in exchange for Bank and IMF support succeeded in lowering inflation and restoring foreign confidence but, activists charged, the results also have included greater inequality of wealth and heightened social unrest. Most of the country’s eight million people subsist as farmers, artisans, small-scale traders, and miners.

Privatisation of state assets and services has been the mainstay of the government’s efforts to attract overseas investment.