Minding the Undertow: Assessing Water “Privatization” in Cuba

Abstract

The privatization and commercialization of water has proven to be one of the most controversial policy developments of the past 20 years. Largely associated with the neoliberalization of the world economy, it comes as a surprise to many that the socialist government of Cuba signed a 25‐year contract with a Spanish multinational in 2000 to manage the supply of water in Havana. This paper provides an historical context for water reforms in the country and the first comprehensive study of this little‐known contract. Based on key interviews and primary documentation we argue that there are no easy explanations for why the contract was signed, or whether it has achieved its objectives. There are, however, interesting lessons to be learned for public–private partnerships elsewhere in the world, and insights into the changing fabric of socialism in Cuba.

The Berlin Reader

“…After huge protests, large private water companies, such as Suez or Veolia, have withdrawn from a number of developing countries (Hall et al 2005: 286;Swyngedouw 2009b: 41). Meanwhile a broad strand of literature dealing with the often disastrous outcomes of water privatizations in the global south has emerged (Ahlers 2010;Aubin 2002;Barlow and Clarke 2003;Cocq and McDonald 2010;Kazimbaya-Senkwe and Guy 2007;Madaleno 2007;Mirosa and Harris 2012;Shiva 2002;Wu and Malaluan 2008;Zaki and Amin 2009). Examples for ending privatization projects can not only found in cities of the Global South, however, but also in cities like Paris (Barraqué 2012), while the uncertain outcomes and contradictions of privatization are vividly illustrated in Berlin.…”

The neoliberalization of water in Lima, Peru

“…It is crucial to realize that the neoliberalization of nature emerged as both a response to the ecological degradation and as an opportunity to forge new mechanisms of capital accumulation through adjustments in environmental policies and public services. These are complex, variegated processes that are structured by historico-geographical circumstances (Cocq & McDonald, 2010), as well as by the socio-ecological (extra-economic) properties of water, which had earlier incited Bakker (2004) to famously describe water as an 'uncooperative commodity'.…”