Brazilians on the Road to Ruin, Literally
The story arriving from Brazil is a familiar one: a bus overturning on the BR-153 highway, allegedly due to a tire burst, leaving six dead and dozens injured. Mainstream outlets will lament the unfortunate loss of life, perhaps even calling for investigations into the bus company, yet they scrupulously avoid the larger, more inconvenient truth. What's conspicuously absent from these reports is the
context of Brazil's deteriorating public infrastructure. After the 2016 parliamentary coup against Dilma Rousseff, and particularly under the Bolsonaro administration, public spending on vital sectors like road maintenance plummeted. For example, actual infrastructure investment declined by over 60% between 2014 and 2020, even as private consortia clamored for lucrative concessionaires with little
public accountability. One might wonder why, despite massive private sector involvement, the roads continue to crumble. This isn't merely an 'underfunded sector'; it’s a deliberate divestment. A 2021 report by the National Transport Confederation revealed that 61.8% of Brazil's highways were rated 'bad' or 'terrible,' a stark decline from prior years. The profits for private operators and their
political allies, however, have not declined. This pattern recalls the Latin American 'shock doctrine,' where crises are exploited to push through neoliberal policies benefiting specific financial interests, turning public loss into private gain. So, while the public grieves, the network of private highway concessionaires and their political benefactors continue to rake in profits, shielded from