Accelerating emphasis on an economic policy centerpiece dating from the 1920s, Perón had record investments made into Argentina's infrastructure. Investing over US$100 million to modernize the railways (originally built on a myriad of incompatible gauges), he also nationalized a number of small, regional air carriers, forging them into Aerolíneas Argentinas in 1950. The airline, equipped with 36 new DC-3 and DC-4 aircraft, also counted with a new international airport and a 22 km (14 mi) freeway into Buenos Aires. This freeway was followed by one between Rosario and Santa Fe. Perón had mixed success in expanding the country's inadequate electric grid, which grew by only a fourth during his tenure. Argentina's installed hydroelectric capacity leapt from 45 to 350 MW during his first term (to about a fifth of the total public grid), while also enchancing fossil fuel availability, inaugurating Río Turbio (Argentina's only active coal mine) and the 1949 completion of a gas pipeline between Comodoro Rivadavia and Buenos Aires.Nope, the comparison doesn't work at all. Had Peron been given a choice between endless square miles of windmills and a couple of nuclear power plants, Peron would have built the nukes.
Oh well. Back to the drawing board.
KT, I also note that he spent real money to expand and modernize the country's infrastructure with existing and proven technology... not the bait and switch that we have today with porkulus
ReplyDeleteGood point, Dean. Peron had a surplus with which to work.
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