| Summary: | In the 1990s, Argentina became one of the best students of the neoliberal school of thought, which was at the time hegemonic at a global scale. The wide and accelerate privatization program and the way –precarious– in which it was applied constitute a clear example of that. This is the framework in which it is necessary to study the privatization of the drinking water and sewage services in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, which was presented as an exemplary case by the neoliberal think-tanks. However, the normative deficiencies, the opportunistic offers made by the largest multinational corporations specialized in water, the variety of unfulfilled commitments on the part of the enterprises –consistent with their opportunism– which were tolerated by the Argentine governments during a long period, as well as the exorbitant rates of profit are clear indicators of the failure of this experience. Clearly, this privation of such a basic service meant large losses for many, essentially for those who could not have access to this service, as well as for the lowest income sectors which had to endure price increases disproportionate with respect to their income. The proclaimed objectives of privatization, such as the improvement of service and its universal reach become in clear contradiction with the extremely poor results after almost thirteen years of private service.
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