South America’s Trans-Continental Railroad Plans Moving Forward

Bolivia’s Planning Minister Rene Orellana reported Feb. 19 that Peru’s Deputy Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Alurralde had contacted him, requesting a ministerial-level meeting to discuss establishing a company to manage the Bioceanic Central Railway Corridor (CFBC), the daily La Razón reported Feb. 20. When built, the CFBC will traverse South America from the Brazilian port of Santos on the Atlantic, across Bolivia to Peru’s Pacific Coast port of Ilo.

At the same time, a meeting between a delegation from Brazil’s Planning Ministry and Bolivia’s Public Works and Planning ministries is scheduled to occur today in Santa Cruz for three days, to discuss the technical, economic, and financial feasibility of the CFBC megaproject. Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff has said she supports the CFBC project as “complementary” to the northern bioceanic route financed by China, which would go from Brazil to Peru, excluding Bolivia. But Evo Morales has been organizing very aggressively for the CFBC route—far more than Peru or Brazil—emphasizing its enormous economic benefits for countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Chile, all located in South America’s middle and southern regions.

Crucial here, is that, in the midst of a global financial meltdown, the discussion on regional integration is continuing, destabilizations and economic crises of the participating countries notwithstanding. On Feb. 18, Ernesto Samper, the Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), was in Bolivia and announced that Unasur has committed itself “to supporting the bioceanic railroad that will extend from Peru, passing through central Bolivia, to the port of Santos in Brazil.” Bolivia’s Public Works Minister Milton Claros reported that Unasur’s South American Infrastructure and Planning Council (Cosiplan), has identified the CFBC as one of the regional entity’s priority projects. Both Claros and Planning Minister Orellana met privately with Samper to discuss the project in greater detail.