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Argentina
Center
for Human Rights and Environment—Right to Water
Initiative
No resource is more basic than water. Water is essential
for life, crucial for relieving poverty, hunger and disease and
critical
for economic development … hundreds of millions of men,
women and children still do not have proper water for drinking
and sanitation. Many remain unemployed because water resources
cannot support agricultural or industrial growth. Water problems
ultimately end up as “people” problems. (United Nations)
The
'Aguas' Tango: Cashing in On Buenos Aires' Privatization
Global water giants partnered to run a water system in the Argentine capital
that the World Bank touted as a model of privatization. Investors extracted millions
in profits. But now the model is crumbling under the weight of mounting costs.
The
Social Protest for Water in Tucuman, Argentina
In 1998 in Tucuman, Argentina's smallest province, a very peculiar thing happened:
The Compagnie Generales des Eaux, French operator of the water and sewer services
(called Aguas del Aconquija in the province), announced that they would begin
a national and international campaign to withdraw from Tucuman. What could
have happened to cause a strong European business that had won the privatization
bid for the province's water and sewer services concession in 1993, to want
to withdraw five years later? What was the luck of this company in a country
such as Argentina that had adopted a neoliberal model and where privatization
of state services represented excellent business deals for French, Spanish,
Italian and other capital?
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