Update on Bechtel vs. Bolivia -- A Settlement in the Works?

For months, Bolivian government officials negotiating with the foreign corporate consortium suing Bolivia over the Cochabamba water revolt, have been saying privately and publicly that they are nearing an accord with the companies. Under the agreement, the corporations – Bechtel of the US, Abengoa of Spain, and Edison of Italy – would drop their case in exchange for a symbolic payment of a few dollars.

To be clear, such a settlement would be an enormous victory for the years of effort by thousands of people worldwide who have fought this case.

Our news conference in Cochabamba on Tuesday, warning that the case had been taken by the World Bank and could cost local families as much as $250 each, provoked a reaction from Bolivian officials. An agreement is just weeks away, they claim, and they warned that our campaign aiming pressure anew at the corporations could jeopardize that. Jeopardizing such an agreement is not the aim of The Democracy Center or the leaders of the water revolt and we have told the government that we will give them time to complete a deal.

We would have kept this development private, except that the government itself released the news this morning in an article in today's edition of Opinion. This explains to our readers and friends around the world why we have held off initiating our global action campaign. To be clear, if this news from the government proves to be incorrect or if these negotiations drag out too long, an international action campaign is exactly what we will launch.

We will obviously have more to say about this in the days ahead.