What Gustavo Melella's administration presented as an "epic battle " for sovereignty has ended in a procedural fiasco of historic proportions. Federal Judge Federico Calvete of Ushuaia issued a ruling yesterday that is, in effect, a slap in the face to the competence of the provincial cabinet: he declared himself incompetent and referred the case to the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.

With this move, Melella not only lost the port at the dock, but now he has lost it in the judicial labyrinth of Buenos Aires .

The chronicle of a mistake foretold (and extremely expensive)

Judge Calvete was emphatic . The lawsuit filed by the Governor against the National Ports and Navigation Agency (ANPyN) is a matter between a Province and the National State, which, according to Article 117 of the National Constitution, must be processed exclusively before the Supreme Court.

This rookie mistake forces us to ask: Why were $60,000 paid to the Buenos Aires-based firm YMAZ SRL? It is unacceptable that such an expensive consultancy failed to recognize that filing the case with the local court was a "ticket to nowhere." While Melella was spending public funds to circumvent the State Prosecutor and appoint officials without federal credentials, the national government was consolidating its material control over the dock.

The Supreme Court's "graveyard"

By sending the case to the Supreme Court, Judge Calvete has placed the fate of the port in the hands of an institution currently overwhelmed with cases of extremely high political and social significance. In the current national context, with the Supreme Court at the center of fundamental disputes over the Emergency Decree, revenue sharing, and state reforms, the Tierra del Fuego port case risks languishing for months, or even years.

This delay works in favor of the national intervention. While the Supreme Court decides whether or not to accept the case, the appointed administrator , Juan Avellaneda, is already managing the port's cash handling, personnel, and logistics. Melella has achieved what seemed impossible: ensuring that the national intervention will not face legal obstacles in the short or medium term.

Melella: The necessary architect of dispossession

Gustavo Melella's responsibility in this situation is total and inexcusable . The intervention didn't come out of nowhere; it was the result of provincial negligence.

1.    Physical abandonment: Allowing the Site 3 piles to reach technical collapse.

2.    The diversion of funds: Attempting to finance OSEF with port fees, violating national agreements.

3.    The internal fracture: He bypassed the State Prosecutor, Virgilio Martínez de Sucre , causing his recusal and leaving the province without its natural and constitutional defense.

Today, the Governor is playing the victim by denouncing an "attack on federalism," but he hides the fact that it was his own signature and his administrative incompetence that put the finishing touch on the gift that Javier Milei 's government is enjoying today.

Conclusion: A hinge that closes the door to autonomy

Calvete's ruling marks a turning point. The port is no longer up for debate in Ushuaia. By taking legal action late, poorly, and with a team that the judge himself described as improvised, Melella has effectively closed off the possibility of an effective defense at the peak of the cruise season.

Tierra del Fuego is witnessing the consequences of a government that confuses propaganda with governance. The port, the most important strategic asset for access to Antarctica and the South Atlantic, is now in the hands of the national government thanks to a governor who, through action or inaction, has become the necessary facilitator of our own loss of sovereignty.