Leasing the Rain - Cochabamba Water War Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key figures, events, organizations, and geographical concepts mentioned in William Finnegan's article 'Leasing the Rain'.

La Guerra del Agua (The Water War)

The popular uprising in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2000, triggered by rate hikes and the privatization of the city's water supply under a foreign-led corporate consortium.

Víctor Hugo Daza

A seventeen-year-old student shot and killed by the Bolivian Army during protests against water privatization in Cochabamba in April 2000.

Aguas del Tunari

The private foreign-led consortium, dominated by Bechtel through International Water, that secured a forty-year contract to manage Cochabamba's municipal water system.

Bechtel Corporation

A major United States-based multinational engineering corporation that served as the primary corporate power behind International Water and the Aguas del Tunari consortium.

La Coordinadora

The coalition formally named the Coördinator for the Defense of Water and Life, led by Óscar Olivera, which mobilized public opposition against water privatization in Cochabamba.

Óscar Olivera

A former shoe factory machinist and union leader who emerged as the primary spokesperson and head of La Coordinadora during the Cochabamba Water War.

Structural Adjustment

Economic policy requirements imposed on heavily indebted nations by the World Bank and I.M.F., mandating state enterprise privatization, market deregulation, and public spending cuts.

Aral Sea

A major lake in central Asia that lost half its surface area and three-fourths of its volume after Soviet planners diverted its source waters for cotton irrigation.

Ogallala Aquifer

A vast underground freshwater reservoir stretching from Texas to South Dakota that is being depleted eight times faster than its natural recharge rate.

Manfred Reyes Villa

The popular mayor of Cochabamba, nicknamed "Bombón," who conditioned political support for water privatization on the inclusion of the costly Misicuni Dam project.

Misicuni Dam

A expensive, long-planned municipal dam project designed to pipe water through the mountains to Cochabamba, incorporated into the Aguas del Tunari privatization deal.

Usos y Costumbres

Traditional communal practices and legal protections for community-managed water systems incorporated into Bolivia's national water law after the departure of Aguas del Tunari.

Cocaleros

Small coca-leaf farmers from the lowlands east of Cochabamba who joined the urban water protesters in opposing government policies.

Robinson Iriarte de la Fuente

A U.S.-trained Bolivian Army captain filmed firing a rifle into a crowd of unarmed civilians during the water protests, later acquitted by a military tribunal and promoted to major.

SEMAPA

The municipal water utility in Cochabamba that was restructured to manage the city's water system following the expulsion of Aguas del Tunari.

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada

A former Bolivian Minister of Planning and President who worked with free-market economists to implement radical economic "shock therapy" in Bolivia in 1985.

Jorge Quiroga

The President of Bolivia who succeeded Hugo Banzer in August 2001 and advocated for market liberalization while criticizing Northern trade tariffs on Southern exports.