April 5, 2024 (EIRNS)—Just two days after patriotic Argentines commemorated the anniversary of its April 2, 1982 retaking of the Malvinas islands and reiterated the nation’s claim to sovereignty over the islands, President Javier Milei made an unplanned trip to the southernmost city of Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego, to meet with Gen. Laura Richardson, chief of the U.S. Southern Command. Ridiculously dressed in Army fatigues, as if he were on some great military mission, Milei reportedly signed an agreement with Richardson to jointly build the Navy’s Integrated Antarctic Logistic Pole in Ushuaia. From the Southern Command’s standpoint, this will be a bulwark against China’s “malign” presence in the region, and give the U.S. a military base on Argentine soil.
China had plans to build a multipurpose port, including a petrochemical complex, on the island of Rio Grande, close to Ushuaia, and had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Governor of Tierra del Fuego Gustavo Melella for that purpose. Richardson wants to make sure that project is never built.
The details of this agreement with the Southern Command have yet to be specified. But sources in Buenos Aires warn this news service that, in the current tense international environment, characterized by NATO’s bellicose behavior, the agreement would allow the deployment of U.S. Navy ships along the bioceanic route in Tierra del Fuego to the Antarctic, access to which the Southern Command wants to have without “interference” from China. It’s clear, one source told EIR, “what the intentions are.” The Malvinas have become an armed NATO outpost, and now, British naval forces stationed on the island will be holding joint exercises this summer with the Southern Command. The implications for broader NATO deployments in the South Atlantic should be taken seriously, EIR's sources add.
Milei’s 3,000-km junket to Ushuaia to meet with Richardson on April 4 was an affront to all patriotic citizens. Ushuaia holds a special place in the memory of most Argentines, because of the role it played during the Malvinas War, and the number of veterans of that war who live in the region. In an incredible insult, Argentine naval personnel at the Ushuaia base flew the American flag to welcome Richardson, and at one point the U.S. national anthem was aired on the national radio station, as if to announce that the U.S. were the new colonial power.
When Milei landed in Ushuaia at 11:30 p.m., he was met with protesters—Malvinas veterans and others—who denounced him for renouncing Argentina’s sovereignty. In a late-night press conference, he praised the U.S., spoke of the “natural affinity” between the two countries, and announced a “new foreign policy doctrine,” based on that affinity. He pontificated that, “our best resource for defending our sovereignty and successfully addressing problems is by reinforcing our strategic alliance with the U.S. and with all the countries of the world that defend freedom,” Israel among them, Página 12reported him saying.
