A report by the Federal Investment Council (CFI), titled "Public-Private Consortium: Modernization of the Management and Administration of Tierra del Fuego , " dated November 2023 and prepared by the agency at the request of the Tierra del Fuego government for the phased privatization of the port of Ushuaia, constitutes a devastating technical warning about the state of the port infrastructure. The 162-page document is not merely an external analysis; it was a collaborative effort between the CFI and the provincial administration itself, received and endorsed by the Deputy Chief of Staff, Jorge Canals , thus giving the Executive Branch full knowledge of the situation since late 2023.

On page 8 (16 of the PDF), the report is unequivocal about the seriousness of the situation: described by the Provincial Directorate of Ports of Tierra del Fuego itself as “ TOTAL COLLAPSE” . It describes a state of neglect that today, in retrospect, takes on a criminal connotation.

In two paragraphs, it is revealed what the government itself knew and has been hiding until now:

A recent study by the Provincial Port Authority states : “The infrastructure of the commercial dock is in a critical state, particularly the fender systems and the road surface. The lack of sustained investment has led to a situation of logistical saturation that jeopardizes the safety of naval operations and human life.”

“…due to a myriad of problems with communication, lighting, access, parking, traffic, security, competition, etc., which together form a situation that can be defined as OPERATIONAL COLLAPSE.”

These two paragraphs are proof that the Government had the "death certificate" of the dock on its desk while publicly maintaining and continuing to maintain a discourse of normality, in the face of an annual flow that exceeds 600 ship arrivals per year.

The emptying maneuvers

What makes this scenario criminal is the sequence of actions that followed the report. Instead of declaring an emergency and allocating the necessary resources to save the port, Governor Melella and his officials carried out a dismantling of those resources.

In August 2025 , fully aware of the "critical state" documented by the Federal Investment Council (CFI), the government pushed through a law to confiscate the port surplus funds and transfer them to the OSEF general treasury . It was a political decision to withdraw funds in a failed bailout. The government deliberately attempted to defund the maintenance of the maritime province's main strategic infrastructure to cover up the successive failures of its political management. This action also provided the Libertarian Administration with further justification to implement federal intervention through the National Ports Agency (ANPyN) at 11:58 PM on January 20th of this year.

 The DROMI-CAVALLO Manual of the 90s

Everything indicates that this is not a case of "inefficiency," but rather a possible instance of dereliction of duty by a public official . If the State receives a technical report—based on information provided by the DPP—warning of an imminent danger, and months later attempts to withdraw the resources intended to mitigate that danger, criminal liability is unavoidable.

The public limited company (SA) project submitted by Melella to the legislature under Law 19.550 —though rejected today—is the culmination of this plan. It represents the cards played out on the table in a gamble that backfired when Milei snatched the port from them.

They have also been exposed. The Tierra del Fuego government is applying against Tierra del Fuego itself the same playbook used in the 1990s by Domingo Cavallo and Roberto Dromi to privatize YPF, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Entel, and Gas del Estado : gut the public entity, deteriorate it, drive it into disrepair, and then propose a private structure to "save" it.