🇨🇳🇺🇸 Pacific play

Last year, Chinese executives arrived in Brasília to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Brazilian government for what could become one of South America’s most ambitious infrastructure projects: a bi-oceanic railway linking Brazil’s Atlantic coast to Peru’s Pacific shore.

The idea is disarmingly simple: a continuous railway from the Port of Ilhéus, in the northeastern state of Bahia, to Peru’s Chancay Port, about 80 kilometers north of Lima. From there, soybeans, corn, copper and beef produced in Brazil’s mining and farm belts could be shipped directly across the Pacific, reaching Shanghai in roughly three weeks.

The strategic appeal is clear…

Don’t miss out! Upgrade to unlock full access. The process takes only seconds with Apple Pay or Stripe. Become a member.

We’re here for readers who want to truly understand Brazil and Latin America — a region too often ignored or misrepresented by the international media.

Since 2017, our reporting has been powered by paid subscribers. They’re the reason we can keep a full-time team of journalists across Brazil and Argentina, delivering sharp, independent coverage every day.

If you value our work, subscribing is the best way to keep it going — and growing.