Baja California as a transit territory for US capital: Cross-border energy and logistics megaprojects in the Californian Pacific

• Iván Alejandro MARTÍNEZ ZAZUETA Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Abstract

The opinion note analyzes the territorial implications and potential socio-ecological impacts of two cross-border energy and logistics megaprojects being promoted in the state of Baja California, Mexico: a liquefaction plant to export natural gas from Texas to Asia and a mega-port multimodal as an alternative for container transport due to the saturation of the port of Long Beach-Los Angeles. The main characteristics of both megaprojects are examined and how they are part of a dynamic of intensification of maritime flows in the Pacific Basin caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the geopolitical and geoeconomic disputes between the United States and Russia. It is concluded that these megaprojects intensify the subordination of the Baja California territory to the needs of the United States, by using it as a mere transit territory, externalizing various socio-ecological effects and associated risks, while violating national sovereignty over this strategic space.

 

References

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