What began Feb. 23 in a dispute with the governor of the Patagonian province of Chubut over revenue-sharing, has quickly ballooned into a national confrontation between Libertarian President Javier Milei and most of Argentina’s governors, over the issue of funding that, according to the Constitution, is supposed to be allocated to them. The situation has devolved to such a point that some governors are warning of a constitutional crisis, “national dissolution,” and attempts to break the country apart, while calling on the President to maintain a dialogue with them.
The fight with Chubut stemmed from the federal government’s withholding of one-third of the revenue-sharing funds that by law are due to the province. Gov. Ignacio Torres demanded full payment and threatened to stop sending oil and gas, of which it is a major producer, to the rest of the country unless the funds were restored. The other five Patagonian governors backed him and issued a joint statement warning that “the Argentine Republic itself is at stake,” and that, in a federal system, governors “aren’t employees of the Executive Branch … we don’t take orders.” Messages from all other governors, except one, came pouring in to defend Torres, regardless of political affiliation. Torres belongs to the right-wing PRO party linked to former president Mauricio Macri.
