MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei takes over Ushuaia port as Tierra del Fuego warns of “overreach” and geopolitical motives

The Tierra del Fuego government denied wrongdoing and said it will challenge the measure in court

Argentina’s government under President Javier Milei has intervened in the port of Ushuaia—the country’s southernmost port and a major gateway to Antarctica—taking control of operations for one year in a move that has reignited tensions with the Tierra del Fuego provincial administration and opened a wider dispute over federal authority.

The intervention was ordered by the National Ports and Navigation Agency (ANPyN), a federal body under the executive branch, following inspections and allegations involving infrastructure shortcomings and the handling of funds. ANPyN said the decision followed a “lack of concrete responses” from provincial authorities, alongside workers’ complaints and concerns raised by shipping companies operating at the port.

ANPyN director Iñaki Arreseygor told local media that an audit found that “more than 30%” of the port’s revenue had allegedly been used to cover provincial “deficits and expenses,” despite rules he said require the money to be reinvested in the port itself. He put the amount at roughly 6 billion pesos out of 20 billion pesos in total revenue identified in the audit.

The Tierra del Fuego government denied wrongdoing and said it will challenge the measure in court. In an official statement, the province argued the intervention “constitutes an overreach” against its constitutionally protected autonomy, “without any argument or fact to support it,” and warned of “worrying narratives” about possible “geopolitical or economic intentions” behind the federal move.

Peronist Governor Gustavo Melella—an outspoken Milei critic—said he does not agree with “the measure or its grounds,” and insisted the port meets “excellent standards,” pointing to its activity levels. Ushuaia has become a key node in South Atlantic maritime connectivity: over the past two seasons it logged more than 1,300 calls—ranging from cruise ships to fishing, cargo, military and scientific vessels—carrying nearly 200,000 passengers, according to official figures cited by the press.

Peronist opposition figures have framed the intervention as part of a broader strategic push by the United States in Argentina’s far south. Guillermo Carmona, who served in the previous government’s now-dissolved secretariat covering the South Atlantic and Antarctica, said the takeover should be read “in a context of expanding US interests in Ushuaia” and what he described as the Milei administration’s willingness to allow a greater Washington footprint in the area.

Those claims draw on recent precedents. In April 2024, Milei visited Ushuaia and met then–US Southern Command chief Laura Richardson, a trip presented as part of closer bilateral ties and Ushuaia’s role in Antarctic logistics.