Through Message No. 275/2026, signed early Thursday morning by Javier Milei, Diego Santilli, Pablo Quirno, Carlos Presti, and Luis Caputo, the government submitted a massive 133-article bill. It repeals Law 26.659 and expands sanctions against the fishing, mining, and Sea Lion suppliers sectors. It establishes interception protocols for the downing and disabling of hostile vessels, criminalizes foreign electoral interference, and creates a "repentance and regularization" program for offending corporations.

This is a high-level institutional move aimed at consolidating in Parliament the announcements made on national television, where President Javier Milei formally submitted this morning to the Chamber of Deputies the draft " Law for the Defense of National Sovereignty" (registered under file number INLEG-2026-90507944-APN-PTE and Message No. 275-2026 ). The initiative, signed along with the newly appointed Chief of Staff Diego Santilli , Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno , Defense Minister Carlos Presti , and Economy Minister Luis Caputo , constitutes a comprehensive legal framework of 8 titles and 133 articles that fundamentally reforms Argentina's defense, penal, and sanctioning system.

The heart of Title I lies in the repeal of the historic Law 26,659 of 2011 (article 40), replacing it with a significantly more burdensome regime that not only pursues the plundering of hydrocarbons, but also extends the prohibitions and punishments to the illegitimate exploitation of renewable (fishing) and non-renewable (mining) natural resources in the Malvina Islands, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands and the corresponding maritime and insular spaces and the Argentine Continental Shelf.

The offensive against colonial extractivism: fines in barrels and effective jail time

The project defines direct, intermediate and accessory conduct that fully impacts the Sea Lion oil project and the foreign fishing fleets that operate under illicit British licenses:

Procedural innovations: “Trial in absentia” and corporate protection

To circumvent the obstacles that have historically hampered cases against British executives who fail to appear before federal courts, the bill formally incorporates the provisions of this regime into the procedural articles governing trials in absentia (amending Article 343 bis of the Federal Criminal Procedure Code and Article 431 ter of the National Criminal Procedure Code). This will allow Argentine courts to investigate, try, and convict foreign executives without requiring their physical presence.

Likewise, Article 27 neutralizes evasive maneuvers by establishing the continuity of criminal and administrative liability in the face of mergers, transformations, transfers of assets or changes of name abroad when the substantial identity of clients, employees or suppliers is maintained.

In parallel, a Withdrawal and Regularization Regime is created (Chapter 5) whereby offending corporations that abandon illegal activities before a final conviction may request criminal and administrative dismissal by paying specific fines (up to 400,000 barrels) or committing to convert their investments to lawful projects in Argentine territory (articles 30 to 38).

National Security Council and protocols for action at sea and in the air

The project goes beyond extraction and establishes a profound reconfiguration of Argentine defense:

1.   Creation of the National Security Council (Title II): A governing body chaired by the President of the Nation and permanently composed of the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Economy, the State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE), and the Legal and Technical Secretariat (Articles 47 to 49). It will have the power to issue urgent precautionary measures such as blocking transfers and foreign currency, imposing trade bans, and raising import/export tariffs of up to 75% on offending states (Article 97).

2.   Protection of aerospace (Title III, Chapter 1): Establishes the sequential protocol against "Irregular or Hostile Air Transits", which ranges from identification to the use of lethal force or shooting down as a last resort , subject to an express and unequivocal order from the President or Minister of Defense (articles 60 to 62).

3.   Maritime Control and Innocent Passage (Title III, Chapter 2): Regulates the intervention of the Joint Maritime Command (COCM) and the Argentine Naval Prefecture. Strict rules for visits and inspections are established, authorizing disabling maneuvers through selective damage to propulsion (Articles 70 and 73). The sinking of civilian vessels as a sanction or method of detention is expressly prohibited , reserving sinking exclusively as an extreme military measure against a "Hostile Vessel" acting in legitimate self-defense (Article 73).

4.   Critical Infrastructure: Places physical, energy, cyber and data networks essential for institutional continuity under the direct supervision of the national State and the provinces (articles 77 to 86),

5.   Electoral interference and espionage (Title VI): Amends the Penal Code by punishing with up to 12 years in prison those who operate mass disinformation financed by foreign powers to alter electoral processes (article 225 bis), sanctions foreign financing in campaigns (Law 26.215) and severely penalizes officials who collaborate or fail to report covert external intelligence operations (article 226 ter).

6.   RePET with the force of law: Elevates to legal status the Public Registry of Persons and Entities linked to Acts of Terrorism under the jurisdiction of the UIF (Title VII).

Between the criminal pressure and the contradictions on the ground

The formal introduction of the bill to Parliament comes less than 24 hours after Judge Mariel Borruto of Río Grande issued a preliminary injunction ordering the physical halt of the Sea Lion project following a collective action by the CECIM La Plata (Center for Ex-Combatants of the Malvinas Islands). This initiative strengthens Argentina's legal and procedural position on the eve of the UN General Assembly.

However, in the legislative debate that will begin in the coming days in committees, the text will have to overcome inevitable political challenges: the situation of transnational contractors with a foothold in Vaca Muerta such as Fugro or Bluewater , the participation of the British company Harbour Energy in the Fuegian fields of CMA-1 and the persistent demand for the presence of US military instructors operating in the BIM 4 of Ushuaia outside the intervention of Congress that the Constitution itself requires.

THE FULL TEXT OF THE SOVEREIGNTY DEFENSE BILL