Javier Milei's government has launched the sale of four pillars of the national energy infrastructure: the gigantic Comahue hydroelectric dams : Alicurá, El Chocón, Cerros Colorados, and Piedra del Águila . These four plants, built with state efforts over decades, represent nearly 20% of the country's hydroelectric generation .

The wholesale sale of these companies, accelerated by regulations that eliminate the base price and dollarize 30-year contracts , is interpreted as a clear gesture of alignment with Western capital and the Washington-Trump axis, which demands the end of Argentine statism while the Republican administration does exactly the opposite.

However, this national privatization movement clashes head-on with the management of another multi-million-dollar Chinese investment in Patagonia, exposing the government's geopolitical contradiction .

Sovereignty on offer and federal tension

Argentina, due to its vast surface area (the eighth largest country in the world and the fourth largest in the Americas), requires control and planning over its strategic resources . The Comahue dams not only generate clean electricity; they also regulate the flow of vital rivers like the Limay and Neuquén . The water supply for consumption, the irrigation of thousands of hectares of agricultural land, and the security of provincial communities depend on them.

The sale process is being carried out in defiance of the demands of the provinces of Neuquén and Río Negro, which demanded federal/provincial participation or control of a natural resource located within their territory.

The liquidation of these assets, using the outdated Law 23.696 of the Menem administration, hands over control of water and energy resources to private hands. Experts warn that the dollarization of contracts, with no minimum price, increases systemic risk and exposes the State to litigation in foreign courts , jeopardizing decades of future development for immediate tax revenue.

The Santa Cruz Paradox

The point of greatest tension is the national government's position regarding Chinese investment in the Santa Cruz dams (La Barrancosa and Cóndor Cliff).

While Milei promised Donald Trump to "expel" China from Argentina's infrastructure, the Santa Cruz government of Claudio Vidal moved forward with the reactivation of the works . The key, and the national contradiction, lies in the fact that the green light was given by the state-owned company Energía Argentina (Enarsa) —dependent on the National Government —when it signed the letter authorizing financing from Chinese banks.

This energy schizophrenia is doubly damaging . On the one hand, assets built by the nation (the Comahue dams) are being structurally divested to please private capital and align with foreign policy. On the other hand, the same administration tacitly endorses Chinese debt and control in Patagonia out of the need to avoid defaults and sustain reserves .

The surrender of assets that took decades of planning, without ensuring state control over a vital resource, not only jeopardizes Argentina's growth but also exposes the fragility of an economic plan that sacrifices national assets for a temporary injection of foreign currency, weakening the energy sovereignty of a potentially powerful nation.