Reply #56: O.K. You forced me to do your research for you. Here it is:

[clear eye]

http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/bolivia.htm

"Paz Estenssoro reduced employment in the government mining corporation by 75 percent and broke the power of the tin miners union. He also instituted a value-added tax. Bolivia obtained favorable treatment from the IMF and other international source of funds. Later, in May of 1989, a principal architect of the NEP, Gonzalo Sanchez de Losada won a plurality in the elections. Gonzalo Sanchez de Losada is an individual with profound economic insights to the problems of Bolivia; Jeffrey Sachs referred to him as a genius."

http://www.pbs.org/now/science/who3.html

"The bank's biggest contributors (the United States, Japan, France, the United Kingdom and Germany) wield the greatest influence, as they each get to appoint a representative to the 24-member executive board. The other 19 members of the board are nominated by the remaining 170-plus member nations. "

"...a set of economic operating principles that often compels cash-strapped nations to open their economic doors to foreign investment. Nations like Bolivia are often unable to secure loans from the IMF and the World Bank unless they agree to sell off public utilities, such as water and sanitation services, that once may have been under local control. "

Gonzalo Sanchez de Losada that privatization of Cochabamba's municipal water system, SEMAPA, was a prerequisite for receiving debt relief assistance from the World Bank and IMF.26 In February 1996, Cochabamba's mayor had received a similar message when World Bank officials refused to consider lending further aid for local water development without privatization of his city's water system.27

"On August 25, 1998, the Bolivian government, in collaboration with World Bank and IMF staff, published the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) Policy Framework Paper, 1998-2001. The document presented a blueprint for implementing free-market economic reform in Bolivia, through fiscal decentralization and privatization, to help reduce inflation and spur economic growth. The report makes specific mention of the government's intention to sell Cochabamba's municipal water company, SEMAPA, by December 1998.28

"In December 2001, when Bechtel appealed for adjudication of the matter, the World Bank became entangled in the events of Cochabamba once again. On February 25, 2002, the case of Aguas del Tunari (the consortium led by International Water Ltd., a subsidiary of the Bechtel Corporation) was officially registered with the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Bechtel and Aguas del Tunari claim that the Bolivian government violated a bilateral trade agreement between Bolivia and the Netherlands when it cancelled Aguas del Tunari's contract to distribute water and provide sanitation services to Cochabamba.29 The consortium is seeking $25 million in damages.30 The two parties are now in the process of selecting a tribunal of arbitrators (some of whom may be chosen from ICSID's "Panel of Arbitrators") for settling the dispute.

U.S. backed "structural trade adjustments" leading to massive unemployment and the privatization of water in an arid country. Notice the neo-liberal apologist in my first citation using Jeffrey Sachs as an expert on what works well.