Interconnection or disconnection. The case of a road in the Peruvian Amazon

This research will concentrate on assessing the justifications used for the implementation of the Southern Interoceanic Road, an ambitious corridor that aims to interconnect the Atlantic and Pacific coasts through the Peruvian Amazon. The project generated great expectations and popular support and concerns and resistance due to the environmental impacts and social tensions in a socio-ecological context as particular as Madre de Dios. Then, given extensive criticism from different fronts within Peru and lessons from other contexts, the present paper contributes answering the question why and how these large investments are justified. The issue is approached from two angles: applying classic economic methods to discuss the benefits and costs involved with the implementation of the road, and from the political economy/ecology way of thinking to decompress the different tensions arisen because of such infrastructure. By using secondary data and a recapitulation of historical facts, the analysis shows that roads (and to some extent, large scale infrastructure) are not only a means of transportation. They are also a policy that brings along structural values that configure and transform the history and social dynamics in a certain area. It is a means of colonization and part of a capitalist paradigm replicated wherever possible to expand the presence of the Sates and the hegemonic way of thinking. Therefore, it is necessary to go beyond apolitical technical arguments and develop conceptual frameworks towards a vision and definition of development that captures the aspirations and knowledge of the actors on the ground and integrating the social and ecological constrains.