Colombian Senator Gustavo Petro proposes sea access railroad

Senator and pre-candidate for the Presidency of Colombia, Gustavo Petro proposed the construction of a railroad connecting Bogota with an outlet to the sea this weekend during his visit to the Colombian municipality of Villavicencio. His idea generated a chain of reactions in social media. 

"Why not dream that a railroad can connect Villavicencio with Bogotá, and therefore Bogotá with the sea?" he asked during his speech. Petro explained that both cities desperately need this transportation alternative, questioning the high cost of tolls as an alternative.

According to the Senator, "the banker," referring to Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo without mentioning him by name, knew about the issue and handed it over as a responsibility to the State. "Despite the fact that he is the one who collects the tolls, 120 critical points of the road. Then, when the rocks fall, it turns out that this is one of the points that the contractor of the concession was exonerated, and then it is up to the State to pay to recover the road," Petro said. 

Petro questioned the nature of the business. According to the leftist Senator, it was thought only in the financial aspect, with which "llaneros and bogotanos, looking for tourism, will enrich the richest banker in Colombia."

He closed his speech by insisting that Colombians make Sarmiento Angulo rich by paying high tolls. "But the road is not sustained; it is not sustained because that road, and the same would be a railroad, has to be thought of not as a financial business, but as an environmental contribution. It is a green corridor that is needed," he concluded.

During his 2018 presidential campaign, the leftist candidate made similar statements. At that time, he said that one of his main transportation projects was the recovery of existing railways and their updating for proper operation and contribution to the economic and transportation sectors of the nation.

¿Por qué no imaginar que Bogotá y Villavicencio puedan conectarse a través de un ferrocarril? ¿Por qué no imaginar que, así, Bogotá pueda tener salida al mar y compartir un corredor verde con los Llanos Orientales?#PetroEnElMeta pic.twitter.com/rqIwrj9cXl

— Moisés Ninco Daza 🐝 (@MoisesAlvaro_) January 17, 2022