Politics is usually decided in offices and speeches, but the loss of operational sovereignty of the Port of Ushuaia was written on engineering plans and accounting reports; where the main people responsible are within the administration of Governor Gustavo Melella.

If PART 1 of this investigation detailed the origin of the financial conflict , this second installment reveals the "irrefutable" technical basis that the Nation used to execute what in the halls of the Fuegian Government House they describe - feigning victimhood - as a dispossession.

Site 3: A pier held up by the air

The most alarming fact in the report by the National Ports and Navigation Agency ( ANPyN) , led in the technical area by engineer Ariel Cherubini , is focusing on the structural condition of the pier. During the underwater and surface inspection, the technicians detected that Site 3 is in a state of terminal deterioration.

The report details the existence of support piles that are cut, collapsed, or completely missing . This situation is not just a maintenance problem; it is a direct threat to navigational safety and human life. In a season where more than 550 large cruise ship calls are expected, operating a pier with a compromised structural foundation is, according to the National Ports and Natural Areas Administration (ANPyN), an act of "operational irresponsibility" that justifies immediate intervention due to "imminent danger."

As can be seen, yesterday; at SITE 3 there were two pilot boats and a ship of the Argentine Naval Prefecture moored.

A blind port

But the pilings are not the only problem . The team led by Darío Grossi (Operations) and Carlos Sposaro (Security) confirmed that the port of the capital of Tierra del Fuego lacks the minimum measures required by international agreements .

The final blow: Note NO-2025-139247837

With this arsenal of technical failures and the diversion of $1.411 billion under his arm, Iñaki Arreseygor signed the end of the autonomy of the Provincial Directorate of Ports (DPP) of Tierra del Fuego on December 16 .

The official document establishes three points that change the history of the province:

1.    12-month intervention: The Nation assumes operational and administrative control to "guarantee the safety and public purpose of the port."

2.    Personnel "at the disposal of": The national government is not transferring the personnel, but rather forcing the province to place all its qualified employees "at the disposal" of the national authorities. In other words, the people of Tierra del Fuego will continue to pay salaries, but the orders will come from Buenos Aires.

3.    Regularization Plan: The lifting of the measure is not automatic. The province must submit a plan that is approved and supervised by the ANPyN , which gives the National Government the power to veto any future work.

"Police Power" as a political weapon

The legal basis rests on Article 23 of Decree No. 769/93 and Law No. 24,093 . According to the national government, the situation described "exceeds ordinary corrective powers." In simple terms: the province proved incapable of protecting its most valuable asset, and the national government, in the name of "national security" and "public interest," decides to take it away.

The impact is devastating for Tierra del Fuego's Antarctic projection . Just when the province should be leading the logistics of the South Atlantic, it is reduced to a mere spectator in its own port, paying the payroll of a structure it no longer controls.

In the third and final installment of this series, we will analyze the "other side" of this intervention: the serious allegations of the Melella administration, regarding the "pressure" of the Naval Prefecture , the interests of the Mirgor Group , the alleged role of Mayor Walter Vuoto , and the return of surnames linked to the Menemist Peronism of the 90s.