uruguay: seeking constitutional
protection for water
redes/foe
uruguay
In 1992, the Uruguayan public
resoundingly voted against the
privatization of public services in a
referendum organized by social movements.
The crystal clear message sent to the
government, international financial
institutions and transnational corporations
pushing for privatization became a
milestone in Uruguay’s history and an
inspiring example for social movements all
over Latin American.
Yet ten years after this victory, the
government is again poised to trade away
Uruguay’s public services with the
expressed goal of “rescuing” the country
from the financial crisis that has followed
the failure of neoliberalism in the region.
Water is up for sale, and any package that
the Uruguayan government offers up in the
context of the ongoing services
negotiations in the World Trade
Organization and the Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA) is likely to include
drinking water distribution and bulk water
extraction.
Water privatization in Uruguay’s
Maldonado province has had ominous impacts,
including increased prices for consumers
and technical failures. Attempts to
privatize water in neighbouring countries
have also been disastrous. In the
Argentinean province of Santa Fe, where a
Suez subsidiary took over water and
sanitation services in 1995, local people
have seen price increases, an increasingly
opaque regulatory process and the neglect
of local shareholder interests.
Social movements, including the water
workers union, farmers, the Neighborhood
Association in Defense of Water,
REDES/Friends of the Earth Uruguay and the
Sustainable Uruguay Programme have launched
a national campaign to protect water from
privatization. They are promoting a
constitutional amendment that would secure
the recognition of water as a public good
and fundamental human right thatmust be
managed sustainably. If campaigners succeed
in collecting the necessary 250,000
signatures, the amendment will be voted on
during the national elections in 2004.
In the meantime, REDES continues to
organize trainings on hydrological cycles
and basin management and strategy sessions
about alternatives for the sustainable
management of Uruguayan and continental
waters.
more information:
FoE Uruguay:
www.redes.org.uy
(Spanish)
