Let the market (or God) fix the routes

The government decided to eliminate the National Highway Administration , and with this decision, it not only dismantles a historic institution, but also makes a much deeper political statement: it abandons its role as guarantor of public services, withdraws from the territory, and hands over to the logic of the market something that never was, nor will ever be, a profitable business, but rather an essential necessity. Because without roads there is no country, without connectivity there is no production or integration, and without road maintenance there is no safety, there is death.

For decades, the National Highway Administration maintained, with varying degrees of effectiveness, a network of more than 40,000 kilometers of national roads . It did so by planning, executing, and supervising projects that, even with errors, sought to ensure that people could travel from one end of the country to the other without risking their lives. With technical teams, a federal presence, and territorial knowledge, the Highway Administration coordinated with provinces to maintain roads, design highways, respond to emergencies, or simply signal a dangerous curve before it claimed another life. Today, all of that has been dismantled.

It's not just about roads; it's about the state in its most tangible form. What this government calls "spending reduction" is actually a stripping away of the tools that allow society to function. Because while they celebrate fiscal surpluses, they ignore a fundamental debate: what's the point of the state spending less if, in return, we have destroyed roads, hospitals lacking supplies, and schools falling apart? What's the point of collecting revenue if there's no investment? Where is the promise that, once the accounts are in order, public works would return?

During the presidential campaign, Javier Milei announced that there would be no public works due to the fiscal deficit, but today, with a surplus in hand, the roads remain paralyzed, construction work is stalled, and public investment in 2024 was the lowest in more than two decades. Fifty-four percent of the more than 2,700 inherited projects remain as the previous administration left them, with no progress, no continuity, no future. Only 18 new projects have been started across the country. Efficiency? Modernization? No, abandonment.

And meanwhile, we continue to pay taxes that, in theory, should fund infrastructure. No one is asking for them to be eliminated, because we understand that development has to be paid for, but we do demand consistency. If the State charges VAT on construction materials, if tax-based projects allow companies to finance infrastructure with their taxes, if there are mechanisms to finance public works without deficits, why isn't anything being done? Why is the State withdrawing even when it has the means to act?

Closing the National Highway Administration is not a gesture of austerity or a fight against corruption: it is a symptom of a country where public resources are superfluous, where the state is a nuisance, and where the daily lives of millions are left adrift. No private company will maintain 1,000 kilometers of road with no economic return, simply because there is no public bidding process that can replace public policy, and no oversight agency can substitute for the state's capacity to act with territorial presence, technical planning, and social responsibility.

The discussion isn't just technical, it's political, because reducing the state doesn't necessarily mean improving it, especially when the cuts affect vital functions like public works . You can't build a country with broken roads, stalled construction projects, and officials applauding their own demise.

The underlying discussion is this: either we commit to a responsive State that plans, cares for, and guarantees minimum conditions for living with dignity, or we accept that every pothole, every unmarked curve, and every preventable death are part of the price to pay for an ideology that confuses freedom with abandonment.