An extensive Sunday article written by Daniel Santoro , titled: “ After the fall of the Chinese project, Nicky Caputo’s company builds a port in Tierra del Fuego with the backing of the USA ” , where the journalist praises the port plan of the Mirgor group as the project that comes to banish China’s aspirations in the South Atlantic, and to fulfill the wishes of the US Southern Command with Laura Richardson at the head; Clarín says that the port would also serve “for the supply of the bases in Antarctica, in addition to commercial imports and exports”, as “strategic value for the control of the South Atlantic”.
And reinforcing this position, he also indicates that "the port of Mirgor will be operational much sooner than the integrated naval base project that President Javier Milei announced in April in Ushuaia and of which only the foundation stone has been laid."
And although, on the other hand , he recognizes that the previous year the government of Alberto Fernández carried out preliminary studies and soil movements on the Ushuaia Peninsula, to enable the construction of two modular warehouses; he also assures that these works are a “project that Petri keeps on hold.”
The note provides erroneous information. It indicates that the Mirgor group began last week “earthworks to build a port terminal in Río Grande,” on the coastal property acquired from Estancia Las Violetas.
Last night, Agenda Malvinas contacted the owner of the ranch, Osvaldo Romero , who denied the information published by Clarín , stating that the event would take place “supposedly in the first week of September.”
The government of CEOs
In this way, the theoretical potential that the Caputo family 's port plan would have, linked to the production of gas and oil by the French company Total and its oil platforms within the framework of the so-called Phoenix Plan for the supply of the internal market; Clarín also sees it as a maritime enclave, suitable for the supply of bases in Antarctica, which the private sector would resolve much more quickly than the State itself through the Navy.
What the journalist from Clarín says is not something that can take the Ministry of Defense, the Navy and the government of Tierra del Fuego by surprise. On the contrary, the relationship between the State and the Company , through the link between the presidential administration of Milei and the Caputo Family, has many facets, which goes beyond the one existing with the Minister of Economy of the Nation.
Please note that the Mirgor Foundation built at its own expense and donated the new buildings and the controversial solar power generation system at the Hito 1 Naval Military Detachment (Northern vertex of the Argentine sector of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego) which were wrongly set up within Chilean territory. Specifically, the Navy has entrusted part of the air operations with the Petrel Antarctic base to the use of a Basler BT-67 aircraft recently acquired by Mirgor , under the guise of a “public-private agreement”.
Mirgor meets with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, AGP and the Undersecretary of Ports
Among the new data provided by Clarín, the meeting held last week by Mirgor executives with authorities from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , the General Administration of Ports , and the Undersecretariat of Navigable Waterways and Merchant Marine stands out. All of this as a preliminary step to the approval of the new technical characteristics that the port would have, after rejecting the construction of an extensive offshore dock and projecting, in a second instance, an onshore port, in similar conditions to the port of Caleta Paula in Santa Cruz.
For this second attempt, Clarín says that “the estimated time of work is 36 months” , that “the extended basic engineering is expected to be completed in September” - a matter that, due to its scope, cannot be dimensioned or understood - and establishes an estimated investment amount of over 500 million dollars and a generation of 700 workers.
Clarín says that Juan Donal , vice president of corporate affairs for the Mirgor group , explained that “ the activities that the port will develop, consumption, supply of ships, Antarctica and the Southern Maritime Corridor, off shore activities, will also make the exploitation of offshore activities more efficient.”
The same as statements by the governor of Tierra del Fuego, Gustavo Melella , who, according to the media, reiterated not only the need to build the port in economic terms, but also that the work will be carried out "in one way or another."
As a complementary finishing touch to the benefits it lists regarding Mirgor 's port plan, Clarín emphasizes that "it has the green light from the United States."
Fountain:
