“Nothing that should be state-owned will remain in the hands of the state“said the then Minister of Works and Public Services in 1989, Roberto Dromiin a failure that later became reality. Thirty-five years later, the Government recovers that spirit and Santiago Caputothe president’s advisor Javier Milei, tries to lead his leader to achieve something that not even Carlos Menem was able to achieve.
Thirsty for dollars for your economic plan with Stretched exchange rate and fiscal surplus -a model that must eliminate the deficit of public companies-, Milei wants to sell the country’s most important freight line, vital for the transport of soybeans, lithium and copper from northern Argentina to the export hubs, to a private company.
The announcement of the privatization of Trenes Argentinos Cargas y Logística (TAC) or simply “Belgrano Cargas” – which has three lines – was also a surprise for Transport officials, whose secretary is Franco Mogetta. As happened in Energia until last week, with the departure of Eduardo Rodríguez Chirillo, The Caputos intervened in Transport to get the State out of the way as soon as possible.
The State, outside
“This government will privatize everything that can be privatized and transfer it to the private sector so that everything that can happen to the private sector works effectively. The state of affairs is over“, reported the Presidency, led by spokesperson Manuel Adorni, who met with councilor Caputo before the official announcement.
The vocation for privatization with the spirit of Dromi – who is silently working on new Energy and Transport concessions -, if successful, could lead Milei to sell Belgrano Cargas, a line for which Menem did not find buyers, who ended up selling it to him to the Union Railway union in 1999.
Subsequently, in 2006, former president Néstor Kirchner handed over the line to a Chinese group led by Franco Macri, Mauricio’s father, who also had the truck driver Hugo Moyano among his partners. The failure of that model was what brought Belgrano Cargas back into state hands starting in 2013.
Source: Clarin
