Look at how nice the Bechtel Corporation was to the Bolivian people

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http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=76

About Bechtel - Letter to the Iraqi People from Representatives of Cochabamba, Bolivia

From the report "Bechtel: Profiting from Destruction"
May 30th, 2003

An Open Letter to the People of Iraq

May 30, 2003

Dear Brothers and Sisters of Iraq,

We have watched carefully in recent weeks and months as you have suffered under the pains of war and its chaotic and unstable aftermath. Our hearts are with you and your families.

We write to you now because we fear that you might be made victims of additional suffering, at the hands of a multinational corporation - Bechtel - an evil business that the people of Bolivia know all too well. This Bechtel Corporation, the company that has been awarded a massive contract by the US government to rebuild infrastructure in your country, is the same one that took over the public water system of our city, Cochabamba, three
years ago.

Bechtel's evil deeds in Bolivia include:

1) Within weeks of taking control of our water Bechtel raised water rates for the poor by more than 50% and in many cases by double, far beyond what families here could afford to pay. As a result of Bechtel's greed families were forced to choose between water and food.

2) When popular protest erupted to challenge Bechtel the company's local managers sat contently in their luxury hotels and watched on television as the Bolivian government brutally repressed the people of Cochabamba in order to protect Bechtel's contract.

3) When popular protest finally succeeded in kicking Bechtel out of Bolivia, Bechtel's managers sacked the water company's offices, taking computers, personnel records, ratepayer monies, and leaving behind an unpaid electric bill for $90,000.

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