translated from Spanish: Geopolitics and railways in the northern border

the economy will always be a substantive variable of the national power of countries. For Chile, it was also the fundamental plank of its international reputation by its business strength, freedom of markets and their arduous commercial diplomacy for thirty years. This has positioned it in a range of average power in the region, and a capacity of positively influencing the development of the regional economy, especially in the Southern Cone.
By the way, to the extent that increase the commitments of State and intensity of business raids from its citizens abroad, also increase the requirements of information and control of the process and the complexity of the issues to resolve through public policy and diplomatic positions of State. And in this Chile has been with a purely commercial bias.
Economic globalization, technological innovation and interdependence-political as the main vectors of the international stage, together with private initiatives, generated a vast and complex system of relationships in which the knot of national security required to be ranked. For Chile that is vital because, in addition to complex borders, the country has structural energy dependence, a geophysical and strategic position without own interland and multiple trade agreements that address. That is why the musculature of the strategic intelligence and the trade of the country should be strongly articulated.
In its international relations, countries have no friends but interests that depend on the basic characteristics of their society, the links with its neighbors and the intensity of their exchanges. In everyday life, by the way, citizens serve their direct business much more than the public interest only when they are threatened they resort to the State. This risk, always present and that dominates the interests of Chile in the vicinity is not easy, and his recent experience has been tense situations.
This reality is which leads to the States to establish control and knowledge of the actions of their nationals abroad, is essential to blogging that which determines or influences the national interest. If they do not or do it poorly, remain to the must in its foreign policy. It is a fact that Chile does not go with their employers, but only in very special cases. Examples have been the unpredictability on the migration issues or policy strings separated from Sebastián Piñera with Peru’s Government, at the same time which is airing in the Hague demand for maritime boundaries. The result together rebounded against Chile with a loss of sea, and a private profit in a Peruvian fishing company for the President, who has never been able to completely clarify.
Therefore, in this field, or everything is business or profits and losses, but also politics. Government incompetence, can lead to evil to assess the capabilities of adversaries and end in a loss of incidence or strategic positions for its diplomacy. It has something like this been happening with Bolivia where its political and diplomatic movements in relation to the exit to the sea and the national development of the country have been poorly evaluated.
Today, a central aspect of its policy of foreign investment, from its geopolitical position in the Southern Cone, affect our country. Bolivia always expresses a veto on Chile in all international issues, that will not change in the short term, where the most important thing today is lithium and railways. This is in relation to railway Bioceanic Santos – Ilo, latest obsession of Evo Morales after his defeat in the Court of the Hague, where they are also playing Peruvian, Brazilian, Chinese, American, and German, as well as dark investor interests of the region itself.
Bioceanicos, vital corridors for the commercial link from Brazil and Argentina to the Asia Pacific are priority for the State of Chile, where the development of the northern border of the country and especially the port of Arica is played.
The neglect of economic diplomacy omission or neglect of the Chile consists of that inexplicable way it has stopped that weakens the position of Chilean businesspeople in Bolivian railways and today the country is not incident in its strategic development almost under any circumstances. One, the Eastern Railway, that belonged to Manuel Cruzat (50%) and that in a bankruptcy it passed into the hands of the American Group Genesee Wyoming, (not paid the price and then sold to a third Venezuelan), and Andean railway belonging to the Luksic Group (24%). In both cases the power of Chilean businesspeople vanished in the hands of private investors in Bolivia, both for the favors of the Bolivian Government as by the fact that the powerful financial backs who bought them would correspond, according to sources Bolivian, Venezuelan, contaminated public money of fouls to probity, and amounts without reasonable limits. Such railways are essential to realize the train bi-oceanic Santos – Ilo.
The above is linked to the end of the war of the Pacific, in which our country is compelled to keep operating a site port for Bolivia in Arica, and the national section of the train Arica La Paz. Even though the cost of the Saints corridor /Ilo is three times higher that Santos – Arica, cannot be ruled out for geopolitical reasons and the permanent enmity of Bolivia with Chile.
Quoted investments are also contaminated by the presence of the Venezuelan businessman – Paraguay, Carlos Gill Ramírez, settled in Bolivia since the year 2008, today strongly linked to Evo Morales and Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, and that was the enthroned in the Bolivian circles of power by the Venezuelan Ambassador to this country.
Just arrived in Bolivia Gill Ramirez bought ATB TV stations, and newspapers “Extra” and “La Razón” of La Paz, to the Spanish group Prisa, and editorially linked them to the political party of President Evo Morales. Consolidated its position in media, Gill Ramírez turned to a very comprehensive set of investments, displaying an unusual financial capacity for individual investors. Banks, agribusiness, oil and transport activities, transformed it into one of the major businessmen of Bolivia, with properties that include the two above-mentioned railway companies, a company soybean located in port area Quijarro, on the border of Bolivia and Brazil, near Santa Cruz.
The railways are at the heart of the projects of bioceanicos corridors that are handled in the North and respect of which Gill Ramírez describes itself as “the pioneer of the Bioceanic train”. The purchase of the Eastern and Andean railways started them already in 2014. The year 2016 Evo Morales revived the bioceanic train project he said “to diversify and reduce the dependence of Chile”. 75% of the Bolivian cargo going to the Pacific out of the port of Arica. Martín Vizcarra, current President of Peru reiterated you the willingness of that country to help him that the project is concrete giving you free spaces and support infrastructure in the port of Ilo.
After his defeat in the Hague, Morales began to move quickly in that direction, with the direct help of Gill Ramírez and trying to articulate the interest of capital Spanish and German. Realized, Santos/Ilo would virtually blind the port of Arica and useless train Arica La Paz, regardless of the fact that Chile must continue keeping them operational because of existing treaties.
In dispensable politics of Chile, is not understood to not support the position of the Chilean businesspeople. Nor anyone else worry that it is contributing to the existence of an almost inert infrastructure and high cost. The stretch Visviri / Arica does not come with the railway line to the port site, but it keeps a stretch of 300 meters from the railway terminal to the site, forcing the use of complementary road transport for this short distance, with saturation and problems arising from the transfer of charge. In addition, enormous resources to maintain the highway from Arica to the border with Bolivia, spent what is an incentive not to use the train for loading more intensively, even though the current situation is charging heavily polluted by the illegal transport of dro gas.
The modern State is a complex administrative political system decided in a sector, affects virtually all others, directly or indirectly A good government requires good intersectoral coordination, work of SEGPRES, real technical office of the President, not only to bills but to the Government of the country.
The performance of such function requires strategic information to harmonize sectoral interest with national interest. For this reason should not be you indifferent to SEGPRES or to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the action of the national private entrepreneurs, who must be accompanied and supported in fair measure, in all that is essential for the national public interest, such as the rail network in the country’s North and surrounding region.
This is what has not happened in the North of Chile, especially in the railroad physical integration. Moreover, they are national law – in this case Claudio Undurraga Abbott – which help to represent the investment of financial resources of diffuse, possibly contaminated origins of illegality, and also harmed national interests and weaken the Chilean incidence in the area.
The prosecution of the case of Eastern Railway, for non-payment of the price to the Chilean original owners is a good – perhaps last – chance to observe and correct mistakes in the designated areas of infrastructure, afectan, indirectly, important aspects of security in the border area.
Under pressure from the Bolivian Government, casual owners who did not pay the price not returned the company to its owners, but was sold to Carlos Gill Ramírez. A kind of “chilezuela” judicial private interests and money Chavez and Bolivian in the strategic game of railways in the North of Chile, to which our authorities alone are ignored.

Poured in this op-ed content is the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial line nor the counter position.

Original source in Spanish

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