In Brazil, intense lobbying has been underway since at least 2016 to tap into the aquifer. These efforts fell under the spotlight late last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where private talks were reported between Brazil’s President Michel Temer and a range of top executives with interests in the aquifer, including Nestle CEO Paul Bulcke, Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Carlos Brito, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey, and Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris.(…)
As far back as 2004, critics like Elsa Bruzzone of Argentina-based progressive veterans’ group CEMIDA noted accused the U.S. of alleging a “terrorist presence” in the region “so they can install a military base and exert control over the water.”