The crisis at the Port of Ushuaia has ceased to be a jurisdictional dispute and has become an obscene display of contempt for Tierra del Fuego's institutions . While the Provincial Government spends $60,000 (90 million pesos) on a private law firm in Buenos Aires, the Provincial Attorney General , Dr. Virgilio Martínez de Sucre , officially confirmed that he "has not received instructions" from the Governor to intervene in the defense of the Province's most important strategic asset.

The silence of the guardian of the law

The letter sent by the State Prosecutor's Office to legislator Pablo Villegas —submitted to the Legislature's front desk this Thursday, February 5, at 1:44 p.m. —is a categorical document. In it, Martínez de Sucre makes it clear that Melella kept him out of the loop regarding the biggest institutional crisis of his term. This decision was not an oversight: it was a deliberate maneuver to circumvent legal oversight.

Why did the Governor choose to indebt the people of Tierra del Fuego by paying a million-dollar sum to the firm YMAZ SRL instead of going to the body that, by constitutional mandate, is supposed to defend the province's assets? The answer seems to lie hidden in the shadows of an administration that prioritizes political loyalty over technical expertise.

The Prosecutor's Opinion: A Setback Foretold

This deliberate concealment was immediately detected by the Federal Justice system. In her Opinion No. 3/2026 , the Ad Hoc Federal Prosecutor, Candela Fernández Núñez , pointed out that Melella 's appearance without the joint representation of the State Prosecutor's Office constitutes a "defect of legal standing that hinders the regularity of the procedural action."

The technical blow is complete. The prosecution reminds the Governor that:

What did Melella buy with 60,000 dollars?

If the governor hired "specialists" from Buenos Aires, how come no one warned him that he couldn't bypass the State Prosecutor? How could they allow advisor Emiliano Fossatto to appear without federal registration? The answer is that those 60,000 dollars didn't buy legal certainty, but rather an expensive and poorly executed charade.

In attempting to circumvent the State Prosecutor's Office, Melella not only committed a procedural error; he broke the transparency contract with the people of Tierra del Fuego . By displacing the oversight body and replacing it with political appointees inexperienced in federal law , the Governor became primarily responsible for the "legal battle" being doomed from the start.

The questions the Governor must answer

Ushuaia is witnessing today the confirmation of what Agenda Malvinas has been denouncing: the dispossession of the port is the result of a management that sabotages itself.

1.    Why did he evade the State Prosecutor? What did he fear the oversight body would uncover in the port administration?

2.    Who authorized the payment of 90 million to a private firm when the province has its own lawyers and a constitutional body for this task?

3.    How does he plan to remedy the "irregular omission" pointed out by the federal prosecutor's office after having lost eight critical days in the middle of a record season?

Sovereignty is not defended with dollar-denominated invoices issued in Buenos Aires; it is defended by respecting the Constitution of Tierra del Fuego. The "outrage" Melella speaks of does not come solely from the national government; today it is clear that the first outrage against the institutions of Tierra del Fuego was committed in his own office.