Bolivia is a poor country in Latin America. . The World Bank pressurised the government to give up its control of municipal water supply. . The government sold these rights for the city of Cochabamba to a multinational company (MNC). . The company immediately increased the price of water by four times. . Many people received monthly water bills of t 1,000 in a country where average income was around 5,000 a month. This led to a spontaneous popular protest. . In January 2000, a new alliance of labour, human rights and community leaders organised a successful four-day general strike in the city. . The government agreed to negotiate and the strike was called off. Yet nothing happened. . The police resorted to brutal repression, when the agitation started again in February. . But the power of people forced the officials of the MN C to flee the city and made the government concede to all the demands of the protesters. . The contract with the MNC was cancelled and water supply was restored to the municipality at old rates. . This came to be known as the Bolivia’s water war.