Unlike the historic diplomatic blockade that for more than a decade stopped the requests of the Federal Court of Río Grande in case 5183/15 initiated during the government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the San Martín Palace gave immediate action to international judicial assistance against the hydrocarbon plundering in the Malvinas Norte Basin, whose operational phase entered its final stage.

The measures are being carried out within the framework of the criminal cases filed in the Comodoro Py courts, where federal judges Julián Ercolini and Ariel Lijo issued diplomatic requests to the governments of Great Britain and Israel , requiring the formal identification of the corporate structures, shareholders and members of the boards of directors of Rockhopper Exploration PLC and Navitas Petroleum Development and Production Limited .

The legal measure aims to identify the foreign executives in charge of the Sea Lion project —which operates with illegitimate permits granted by the colonial government in the Malvina Islands— in order to establish specific criminal responsibilities in the event of summonses for questioning, arrest warrants or prosecutions under Law 26.659.

The most striking political and institutional development lies in the administrative process: unlike what has occurred in recent years, the Argentine Foreign Ministry immediately acted on the judicial requests . This swift action by the San Martín Palace stands in stark contrast to the trajectory of the main case, 5183/15, opened in 2015 in the Federal Court of Río Grande by former Judge Lilian Herraez de Andino . For over a decade, and until just two weeks ago, the federal court in Tierra del Fuego encountered systematic reluctance from the diplomatic corps to process international letters rogatory against the oil corporations, effectively freezing the substantive measures.

Ercolini's case: focus on Navitas and geographical delimitation

In the court overseen by Judge Julián Ercolini —with the involvement of prosecutor Eduardo Taiano and preliminary measures initiated by Ramiro González —the request directly targets the Tel Aviv-based company:

Lijo's investigation: corporate network and criminal expansion

For his part, federal judge Ariel Lijo granted the measures formulated by prosecutor Carlos Stornelli , expanding the criminal charges against the commercial consortium after the presentation by the Casa Rosada:

The legal trap set for Sea Lion

The sending of the letters rogatory in Buenos Aires coincides with the legal front opened in the Fuegian jurisdiction itself, where Judge Mariel Borruto ordered two weeks ago the immediate material suspension of the preparatory work of Sea Lion by granting the preventive action of collective damage promoted by environmental lawyers and the CECIM La Plata.

The Foreign Ministry's effective processing of the letters rogatory formalizes a direct channel between federal courts and the foreign jurisdictions from which the capital for the exploitation originates. While London reaffirms the illegitimate extension of licenses in the islands and defends "free trade" before the UN, the Argentine criminal justice system is moving forward in gathering corporate evidence to bring the foreign directors to trial for the usurpation of natural resources in the South Atlantic.