César Lerena, Argentina's leading expert on the South Atlantic and fishing, published a categorical analysis of the situation at the Port of Ushuaia this past Friday in the newspaper Perfil . His position is clear: we are facing a "partial intervention" by the province of Tierra del Fuego, carried out unconstitutionally and facilitated by a governor who seems not to grasp the geopolitical importance of the strategic territory he administers.

Summary of Dr. Lerena's observations and analysis:

Direct criticism of Melella: A Governor who neglects strategic issues

For Lerena , it is unheard of that a National Agency Director has to remind the Governor of a strategic province that its port is vital for the bi-oceanic connection and Antarctica.

"A Governor of a strategic Province (...) should understand the responsibility he has in developing the Port of Ushuaia ," the expert stated, criticizing the diversion of funds to cover up political holes while neglecting a central piece of the strategy related to the Malvinas and the South Atlantic.

Dr. Lerena's analysis leaves Melella in an extremely weak position: he is being questioned by the national government for his mismanagement and, simultaneously, denounced by constitutional experts for effectively surrendering provincial autonomy by failing to defend or manage the port. The intervention, in Lerena's words, is a "delusion" regarding sovereignty that has only been possible due to the inefficiency of the Tierra del Fuego government.

THE FULL TEXT OF THE ARTICLE BY DR. CÉSAR LERENA IN THE PERFIL NEWSPAPER, ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2026

THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT CANNOT INTERVENE IN THE PROVINCIAL PORT OF USHUAIA

Profile, January 30, 2026.

We have repeatedly observed Law 24.093, which led to the privatization of numerous ports, the formation of consortiums, and the transfer of others to provincial control. We have been particularly concerned about the application of this law to ports that could be considered strategic, such as the Port of Ushuaia. Its location in relation to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Malvina Islands, the surrounding waters, access to Antarctica, and its relationship with Chile should lead the relevant authorities to consider it a matter of paramount importance for the Argentine Nation.

The National Ports and Navigation Agency , based on this legislation and other complementary laws, has intervened in the Port of Ushuaia; in our opinion, violating the National Constitution and all current Argentine legislation; there are those who affirm, derived from the statements of President Milei (April 2024) and State officials United, which could be a maneuver intended, rather than to resolve an administrative issue, to pave the way for this country's access to an integrated administration.

In this regard, President Milei, in April 2024, along with General Laura Richardson, reaffirmed " our commitment to developing our integrated naval base (...) defending sovereignty with political conviction and strategic alliances with countries that share a worldview. And in that sense, the presence of the United States is key to strengthening our position in the region (...) to continue promoting this strategic alliance." General Richardson, for her part, expressed concern about Chinese influence in the region, where the financing of various projects near the Port of Ushuaia was reportedly underway, along with interest in this port facility. For his part, Admiral Holsey, during his visit to Ushuaia in April 2025 through SOUTHCOM, emphasized the future collaboration between the United States and Argentina and the latter's assistance for the "expansion of an integrated naval base to house submarines and ships from both countries," which, if realized, could violate the demilitarization foreseen in the Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed in 1984 with Chile and the South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone (UN Res. 41/11).

However, since the transfer of the Port from the Nation to the Province in 1992, it appears that the Province can do nothing other than suspend the national authorization of the Port and, consequently, the operations related to interprovincial and international trade and the resulting customs tasks, in accordance with Article 9, Article 75, paragraph 1, and Article 126 of the National Constitution. While this could hinder commercial operations (which would have to be carried out from other ports), intervening in a Provincial Port—even transferring the personnel—would simply be a partial intervention by the Province, requiring an exceptional and serious situation, not a merely administrative or financial matter, and would have to be approved by a special Law of the National Congress, according to Article 6 of the National Constitution.

All activities related to the authorization, administration, and operation of the ports of the Argentine Republic are governed by Law 24,093 (Art. 1°) enacted in 1992, excluding ports or sectors thereof intended for military or state police use (Art. 3°). According to Art. 4°, " authorization by the national State is required for all commercial or industrial ports that involve international or interprovincial trade," and according to Art. 5°, "the authorization of all ports referred to in Article 4° must be granted by the Executive Branch, as established in this law, communicating said decision to Congress within ten business days, counted from the date of the respective decree," which implies that an intervention should follow the reverse process.

The aforementioned Law establishes that at the request of the provinces (Art. 11°) in whose territories ports owned and/or administered by the National State are located, the Executive Branch will transfer, free of charge, the ownership and administration of the port. This is the case of the Port of Ushuaia, since on October 13, 1992, the Transfer Agreement from the Nation to the Province was signed and ratified by Decree 1931/92, later approved by the legislature. Therefore, intervention by an agency of the National Executive Branch would be inappropriate, as there are no constitutional exceptions, since the Nation has no jurisdiction over the port of Ushuaia and it has belonged to the Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands (Tierra del Fuego) since the aforementioned date; in addition to being located within the 12 nautical miles of provincial jurisdiction.

On 16/12/2025, the Executive Director of the National Ports and Navigation Agency, Iñaki Miguel Arreseygor (a man with no background or experience in port matters before being appointed Undersecretary of Ports and Waterways in May 2024)  by Decree 429/2024), addressed a Note ( 139247837) to the Provincial Director of Ports of Tierra del Fuego informing him that actions were being carried out derived from "the complaint made by the General Secretary of the Union of Senior Railway Personnel Juan Avellaneda, in relation to the sanction of Provincial Law No. 1596 of the Province, promulgated by Provincial Decree 1849 of 22/7/25 where the financing of the Work was provided Social of the State Fuegian (OSEF) with the funds of the Address Provincial of Ports.

Arreseygor refers to  Clause 7 of the Agreement transferring the Port to the Province of Tierra del Fuego states that "The port's revenues will be accounted for independently of general provincial revenues and will be applied exclusively to cover administration, operation, training and investment expenses related to port activity…» and, by the aforementioned Law 1,596, Port funds would be allocated to strengthening OSEF, which would prevent the completion of «… vital works importance for the operation safe of the dock commercial…»; arguments that justified a peremptory demand to the Provincial Directorate and the Government of Tierra del Fuego, regarding compliance with the aforementioned clause 7a. and successive procedures for extensions and inspections; finally, after evaluating the responses of the Province, the Agency concluded that «the Province did not managed to distort the considerations and conclusions set out in the Final Inspection Report…»; reminding the Provincial Authorities that the «Agency has the character of the sole National Port Authority in accordance with the DNU PEN No. 3 of 3/1/2025 (…) (and) by means of Decree PEN No. 769/93 -Regulatory of Law No. 24,093- it was established -according to the regulations of the article 23- that the Authority Port National will be able to apply sanctions against the heads of port administrations, consisting of the suspension of the authorization for a certain period of time and the expiration of the authorization (cf. Paragraphs a and b).

We anticipate that, beyond a thorough evaluation of the legislation cited by the official, it is inappropriate for the Government of Tierra del Fuego to finance a Social Welfare Fund—whose underfunding is entirely the responsibility of the provincial government—with funds from the Port of Ushuaia. The importance of the Port, instead of being recognized by the Governor of Tierra del Fuego, needs to be pointed out by the Director of an Agency: “The Port of Ushuaia is a strategic point for the country, not only because of its transoceanic connection and proximity to Antarctica, but also because of its abundance of resources.” of their resources natural. With it which, disregard the investments that he port of Ushuaia requires for its development and/or daily operation would jeopardize the country's positioning as a point of interest for the global economic scenario," who concludes by "requesting that it be made available of the Agency the staff affected to the operation and/or administration of the Port of Ushuaia, in order to ensure the continuity of its operation upon implementation of the intervention administrative (…) for a period of 12 months, renewable and ensuring the continuity operational of the unit port intervened."

More than a month after this decision was communicated (12/16/25), the Executive Director of this National Agency, after a long list of considerations, issued Resolution 2026-4-APN of 1/20/2026 where, by a rare coincidence with the 56th Annual Meeting of the Davos Forum (1/19-23/2026), it was Article 1 provides for the suspension (Art. 1°) of the authorization of the Port of Ushuaia for twelve months, renewable , and Article 2 provides for "the administrative intervention in matters of port infrastructure of the Port of Ushuaia, for a term of twelve months, renewable (...) which will be in charge of the operational management, technique and administrative of saying port (…) the infrastructure port of operations, machinery, equipment, and facilities, and everything related to port operations that is within the territorial jurisdiction, bodies of water, and adjacent aquatic spaces of the port jurisdiction .” That is to say, it not only covers port infrastructure but also extends into the provincial territorial sea. The scope regarding the sovereignty of the Province of Tierra del Fuego is somewhat delusional, given that it concerns an alleged administrative infraction that, had it existed, could have been resolved at that level. Moreover, the Agency Director himself confirms in the recitals that “in Article 12° of the mentioned law expects the creation exceptional of a Specific Fund for the Payment of Debt of OSEF, specifying that the source of financing will be the “financial surplus” produced by the Port of Ushuaia, corresponding to the fiscal years 2024 and 2025”; that is, a “financial surplus” that would not have affected the operation of the Port and that could well be reinstated by the Port. 

Regardless, the Governor should remove the Port Administrator from his position, not for transferring funds to the Province, but for having a surplus. The State's purpose is not to generate profits or surpluses, but to carry out all operations, services, and projects with the resources obtained from the corresponding taxes.

From reading some of the Considerations of the Agency's Resolution, it would seem that this body considers it an aggravating factor that the Nation had made contributions for the port infrastructure and the strategic development of the Port, etc., and despite stating in these grounds that there are works of some urgency in the Port; in its task of technical and economic collaboration that it claims to have provided, it has not perceived the existence of a surplus during the years 2024 and 2025; a matter that it only observes at the time of the transfer of the funds that it objects to. It is evident that, in the "close" working relationship between the Nation and the Province, if there is any responsibility, it is shared. This is further demonstrated when the Preamble to the Resolution indicates that a National Inspection Commission—of dubious legitimacy, if not agreed upon by both the Nation and the Province, as per Article 21 of Law 24,093—conducted between September 30 and October 1, only then observed a series of deteriorations, obsolescence, deficiencies, improper uses, etc., and the low level of execution of port infrastructure works (1.3% of total accrued expenses), along with other administrative observations related to excess personnel, lack of adequate training, etc. In other words, all these observations were made after the enactment of Provincial Law No. 1596, promulgated by Provincial Decree 1849 of July 22, 2025. It would seem that the mandate to the Commission was "look for aggravating factors".

The administration, operations, exploitation, maintenance, and enhancement of the Port of Ushuaia falls under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Executive Branch, and it is true—and the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego and Argentina should hold the Governor accountable for this—that funds cannot be transferred to a Provincial State Social Welfare Fund while neglecting a Provincial Port that not only trades products and transports people to and from the main island, but is also central from a geopolitical point of view in the strategy regarding the Malvina Islands, the South Atlantic Islands, and Antarctica, and the corresponding waters under the jurisdiction of the Province; waters of which 1,690,000 km² are invaded and exploited by the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

A low-level official cannot partially intervene in or dictate provincial policy with its national implications. A governor of a province of strategic importance due to its jurisdiction over the Malvina Islands and Antarctica, etc., should understand his responsibility in developing the Port of Ushuaia.     

The most unusual part comes in Article 3 of the Agency's Resolution, when it suspends the execution of disabling the port (Article 1) and subjects it to Article 8, which instructs the Technical Coordination Management " to immediately implement the suspension of the authorization of the Port of Ushuaia (...) provided for in Article 1, front to the eventuality of that the intervention administrative action ordered by Article 2 of this measure cannot be properly executed." Demonstrating a lack of foresight and technical incapacity to operate the port efficiently; in addition to advancing in Article 4 so that the aforementioned Management can " issue the rules necessary for do operational the measures "prepared"; that is, to further encroach upon the sovereignty of Tierra del Fuego by subordinate national officials, to the point of requiring the necessary collaboration of the General Port Administration SAU for the fulfillment of the procedures inherent “ to the intervention "willing", "thus as his assistance and cooperation for obtaining the goods and other resources indispensable for such purposes (…) may include everything related to the administration of the funds whose management is linked to the operation and exploitation of the Port of Ushuaia” (Art. 5°).

Article 6 adds an “even more unusual” element when it states that, even the personnel belonging to and paid by the Province of Tierra del Fuego will not imply “transfer of personnel or changes in the current employment relationships, but rather the temporary provision of suitable personnel to guarantee the provision of services "porters" means the Nation will use provincial economic and human resources to carry out its intervention.

Partial or total intervention in a province requires an Act of Congress. This is in addition to the Tierra del Fuego government's inefficiency in managing the Port of Ushuaia. 

Dr. César Augusto Lerena

South Atlantic and Fisheries Expert – Former Secretary of State.

President of the Center for Latin American Fisheries Studies

cesarlerena.com.ar