In the midst of the biggest institutional crisis of his term, and after having allowed with inexplicable negligence the Nation to take control of the Port of Ushuaia, Governor Gustavo Melella has decided to add a new scandal: the squandering of public funds in direct contracts of dubious legality.

According to a recent report by tdfline.com.ar , the Provincial Government has hired the Buenos Aires law firm YMAZ SRL to pursue an injunction against the intervention. The cost of this "first step" is $60,000 , equivalent to almost 90 million pesos, to be paid in three installments.

And what about the lawyers for the Fuegian State?

Hiring an external firm for a legal presentation of this nature immediately raises suspicion. The Province of Tierra del Fuego has a permanent staff of lawyers with the technical capacity to file cases before the Federal Courts. Furthermore, the province has the position of State Prosecutor, the natural and constitutional representative of the financial interests of the people of Tierra del Fuego .

Legally, the Provincial Government is prohibited from contracting external legal services unless it involves an extremely specialized area (such as space law or complex IT law) that its own professionals cannot handle. An injunction based on "provincial autonomy" is the very essence of the State Attorney's work. Why pay $60,000 to a private firm in Buenos Aires for work that is already covered by the salaries of Tierra del Fuego's public administration?

Seized funds and general accounts

An aggravating detail: since the port's accounts are currently under the control of the national administrator, the payment to Ymaz SRL will be made through the Province's General Account . In other words, while Melella claims there is no money for health or education, the money of all the residents of Tierra del Fuego is being used to finance a belated "legal adventure" aimed at saving face for an administration that practically gave away the port in December .

The governors' silence and Canals' "disappointment"

Melella's political isolation is absolute . According to tdfline , Chief of Staff Jorge Canals' failed attempt was to unite the opposition and the Patagonian governors behind the "Port Cause." But evidently, no one wants to be photographed with a governor who has a pier with broken pilings and a shady accounting system.

Even the governors who until recently posed with Melella now maintain a deathly silence and a prudent distance . They clearly understand that the intervention has a technical basis that the governor's "sovereign rhetoric" cannot obscure.

This legal maneuver by Melella is not only ethically questionable, but could also constitute grounds for impeachment . The payment of $60,000 to an external firm without justification of expertise, through a direct contract, puts Melella on the brink of another legal precipice.

The governor, who either couldn't or wouldn't defend the port when he received warnings in October and December, now expects the people of Tierra del Fuego to pay for a multimillion-dollar private defense to try and recover what he himself surrendered. Sovereignty isn't defended with contracts in dollars; it's defended with honesty, investment, and respect for institutions, which have already been lost.