"The fourth industrial revolution proposes a global realignment in geopolitical terms. Rare earths, minerals, fresh water, energy, and food mark the pulse of this decade, in which the positions of states are being forged that will determine their place in the new global division of production, labor, and consumption.
The Argentine Republic is not just another dot on this map. Our South will be the driving force behind this global transition. Building sovereign conditions to make our own decisions and debate as equals in the international arena is the great challenge. The Milei brothers, on the other hand, are trying to create a new status for Argentine commitment. Specifically, a country subject to the wishes and designs of the handful of people who have taken the lead in technological development.
In this context, Tierra del Fuego , Antarctica, and the South Atlantic Islands (the name of our province, which includes the Malvinas Islands and the vast Atlantic Ocean) take on a preponderant value. Thus, before our eyes, Javier Milei's government is orchestrating a plan to empty that land, strip it of its people, and consolidate a colonial enclave in the far south. This is not a metaphor: it is the new colonial pact.
A few days ago, we drafted a document from the Malvinas Islands Veterans' Center in La Plata ( CECIM ) in which we denounced what is now undeniable. The reduction of tariffs on imported appliances, computers, and cell phones is much more than an economic measure. It is a direct blow to the industrial promotion regime that, since the entry into force of Law 19,640, has sustained production on the Great Island of Tierra del Fuego, where thousands of workers exercise sovereignty every day... Yes, to govern is to populate! With this decision, Milei is deactivating the economic heart of the province, exposing a larger strategy: to depopulate the territory, dismantle industry, and open the door to foreign interests.
This emptying is not a miscalculation, nor a mere oversight. Nor can it be explained by the simple slogan of "using the chainsaw." It is part of an architecture designed to facilitate the consolidation of colonial dynamics, as former Secretary of State César Lerena warned in a recent article. While the United Kingdom advances in its consolidation in the South Atlantic and its resulting regional influence, Argentina seems to be retreating in everything related to the defense of its sovereign rights. The lethal combination of economic adjustment and diplomatic capitulation is dismantling, stone by stone, the foundations of a state policy that for decades sustained our presence in the south.
Shortly after taking office, the national government attempted to annihilate the Land Law by attempting to repeal it through Decree 70/23. Thus, we can see the vectors that are shaping the pulse of the consolidation of neocolonialism in Argentina, led by Milei.
The Land Law is a public policy instrument aimed at preventing the massive foreign ownership of our lands, including strategic zones, bodies of water, and border areas. This law was passed by Congress in 2011 by an overwhelming majority and establishes clear limits on the acquisition and possession of land by foreigners, protecting vital resources and food and water sovereignty.
Javier Milei attempted, as we noted, to repeal it by decree. It is important to emphasize that 21st-century colonialism no longer requires crews disembarking from caravels. The opening of hundreds of thousands of hectares for sale to economic groups, the possibility of acquiring the entire land adjacent to a lake (as in the case of Lewis), among other dynamics, are the practices that mark the pulse of a peaceful and silent occupation that, ultimately, ends up conditioning national sovereignty.
On this specific point, the federal court in La Plata, following an amparo action filed by CECIM, prevented the repeal of the Land Law and declared Article 154 of DNU 70/23 unconstitutional. The issue is before the Supreme Court, and we know the battle is far from over. The Tierra del Fuego case is an example of how the President aims to undermine the principle of territorial integrity.
On April 2, the president suggested that he longed for the "Malvinas" to choose "to be Argentine." That phrase is not a sign of ignorance. Milei spoke to his financiers, to his constituents. He told them and made it known that the systematic plan to surrender sovereignty is still underway. The plan is to break the principle of territorial integrity, design the legal and institutional architecture of colonialism, and force the Argentine Republic to enter the transition to the fourth industrial revolution on its knees.
This declaration, moreover, does not occur in a vacuum. It comes at a time when Great Britain is strengthening its presence on the islands, promoting fishing and energy agreements, and deepening its alliance with other countries in the region. The surrender of the South Atlantic and Antarctica is no longer a remote risk: it is a developing scenario in which the Milei brothers are deploying a deliberate program to weaken Argentine capabilities.
We at CECIM have called for the president's impeachment, and we hope the National Congress will act accordingly. Failure to do so will mean condoning this national tragedy, while the memory of our veterans is trampled upon by the Executive Branch.
The United Kingdom's advance in the South Atlantic, tensions over fishing, hydrocarbon, and strategic resources, and the growing presence of foreign powers place Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica, and the South Atlantic Islands at the center of the dispute. The establishment of military bases, agreements with the United States, and the systematic failure to implement policies to strengthen the province are not isolated incidents. These are, therefore, moves on a chessboard.
In the face of this offensive, the Argentine state should redouble its presence by modernizing ports, boosting industry, promoting a sovereign fishing policy, reconnecting the Big Island with the mainland, and strengthening ties with Antarctica. However, what we see is the opposite: abandonment and depletion. All of this against the backdrop of a narrative that attempts to reduce sovereignty to an anachronistic concept, failing to understand that, in the 21st century, control of natural resources, territory, and strategic routes is more crucial than ever.
In the face of this colonial advance, responses cannot be isolated or half-hearted. At CECIM, we understand this and have activated every legal and political lever to halt this onslaught: criminal complaints, injunctions, and impeachment proceedings. Many representatives of the academic community, human rights organizations, and productive sectors have also taken up this battle.
We need some of the leadership to rise to the occasion and create the institutional mechanisms to put a stop to this project of deliberate surrender. What's at stake is our present, the fundamental foundation of any future plan.
Every hectare sold, every permitted base, every complicit silence hurts us all. Only with collective consciousness, with a national project that puts sovereignty, social justice, and respect for human rights at its center, can we stop this new colonial pact. History calls us. The future demands it.
To remember is to resist. Resistance is not just a heroic gesture. It's an ethical, political, and human obligation. It's the new categorical imperative.
The homeland is not for sale. No one can save themselves alone. The Malvinas are Argentine.
By Jerónimo Guerrero Iraola | Lawyer
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