During the central event for the Day of the Veteran and the Fallen in the Malvinas War , within the framework of the 43rd anniversary of the beginning of the South Atlantic war , the mayor of Ushuaia, Wualter Vuoto , maintained that the province should withdraw the radar of British origin that is installed in Tolhuin and that could be being used for military purposes.
“ I was thinking that when we criticized the national governments and this national government for the lack of commitment to the Malvinas and for not understanding what it feels like here in the south, I must say that the Malvinas begins at home ,” Vuoto said.
He added, " I must humbly ask, as mayor of Ushuaia, and taking advantage of the fact that the governor, deputies, senators, and councilors are here, that we come to an agreement without looking back or assigning blame, and that we remove the province's English pirates from its radar; if we want to make the Malvinas a success, let's start at home ."
The mayor of Ushuaia emphasized that “ The Malvinas continue to hurt us when we see that British hydrocarbon companies are planning to take more than 54 billion dollars from the underwater platform of our islands, when they illegally grant fishing permits in our waters and when we hear that there are British investments for more than 200 million dollars to build a port that will compete with Ushuaia in all geostrategic terms .”
He also emphasized that " there are clearly differences in how central governments view southern Patagonia, our Malvinas," and this is reflected in "the growing militarization of the islands ."
“ At the Vigil, we spoke to our fighters about seeing the Gurkhas back on our islands, and that in the last three years, Britain has quadrupled its military installations, technology, and weapons with the help of NATO and, let's not forget, also with the help of neighboring countries ,” he added.
He also mentioned the statements made by Argentine President Javier Milei, who emphasized that " there is a big difference between what it means to feel about the Malvinas and what it means to support the feelings of our veterans ," and he stated that " in Ushuaia, the only ones we admire are our heroes, never Margaret Thatcher, who ordered the sinking of the cruiser General Belgrano inside the exclusion zone ."
Furthermore, the Tierra del Fuego leader questioned Milei's remarks, who invoked the self-determination of peoples in the case of the Kelpers, despite the fact that they are an established population. " The only freedom when talking about the self-determination of peoples is to reclaim our islands, our land; the only freedom is to repeal the shameful laws that never even passed through the National Congress ," Vuoto said.