April 10 marks the 25th anniversary of the people’s victory in the Cochabamba Water War against the privatization of of their precious resource. Community members protested and shut down the streets for months in defense of their right to water after Cochabamba handed the municipal water supply over to a subsidiary of the US construction firm Bechtel. Rates spiked. People stood up.

This is episode 18 of Stories of Resistance — a new podcast co-produced by The Real News and Global Exchange.  Independent investigative journalism, supported by Global Exchange's Human Rights in Action program. Each week, we’ll bring you stories of resistance like this. Inspiration for dark times.

If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment, or leave a review. You can also follow Michael’s reporting and support at www.patreon.com/mfox.

Written and produced by Michael Fox.

If you are interested in more information on the Cochabamba Water War, we recommend you check out the 2010 movie Tambien La Lluvia, featuring Gael García Bernal. It is a tremendous look back at that time, amid a scathing critique of how the Spanish, foreign companies and white elites have always treated local Indigenous and campesino populations in Bolivia and across Latin America.

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