Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A FAILED PORT
Buenos Aires' waterfront was an object of controversy in the mid-19th century, when competing com-
mercial interests began to fight over the location of a modernized port for Argentina's burgeoning in-
ternational commerce. Two ideas came to light. One was to widen and deepen the channel of the
Riachuelo to port facilities at La Boca, which indeed happened as planned. The other was proposed by
Eduardo Madero, a wealthy exporter with strong political ties and solid financial backing. Madero
proposed transforming the city's mudflats into a series of modern basins and harbors consistent with
the aspirations and ambitions of a cosmopolitan elite. This also occurred, but not quite as he had
planned.
By the time of its completion in 1898 (four years after Madero's death), Puerto Madero had ex-
ceeded its budget and Madero himself had come under scrutiny. Suspicions arose from Madero's at-
tempts to buy up all the landfill in the area and from his links to politicians who had acquired nearby
lands likely to increase in value. And the practical side of the scheme didn't go so well either. By 1910
the amount of cargo was already too great for the new port, and poor access to the rail terminus at
Plaza Once made things even worse. New facilities in a rejuvenated La Boca partly assuaged these
problems, but congressional actions failed to solve the major issues - until the 1926 completion of Re-
tiro's Puerto Nuevo.
