DEPREDANDO BOLIVIA: EL CASO DEL FERROCARRIL DE MEJILLONES A CARACOLES*

In January 1873, started the construction of the railway line that would connect the port of Mejillones with the deposits of Caracoles. It was the first railway in Bolivia and the first relevant non-military fiscal investment made for its independence. The government granted its execution to a society of respected industrialists, landowners, and bankers; a year later, the project had been abandoned. Behind a history that reveals the acute internal tensions in Bolivia, our research aims to demonstrate the asymmetric relations between a state that was not yet part of its extensive coastal region, with the interest of investors in consolidating their dominant position in the region. In this context, we believe that the general factors that explain the premature termination of the works, such as the decline of the Caracoles deposits or the scarcity of means of subsistence, are less relevant than the priority interest in profiting from the business through the intentional creation of a large fiscal debt and the inexistence of adequate legal frameworks to protect public interests during the period analyzed.