MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“We are watching”: Argentine intelligence posts message on Falklands after Milei address

Intelligence services do not customarily publicize references to their own observation activities

Argentina's State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE) published a satellite image of the Falklands in the early hours of Friday accompanied by the phrase “we are watching,” hours after President Javier Milei announced in a televised national address sanctions against companies operating around the archipelago without Argentine authorization and the construction of a naval base in Tierra del Fuego.

The post, issued at 4:13 local time from the agency's official account on the social network X, carried no additional text and made no reference to the measures announced. The image shows the two main islands seen from space, with the Secretariat's crest at the foot. Within the first hours it had drawn more than 160,000 views.

The post follows SIDE's own involvement in drafting the presidential address. Presidential spokesman Adrián Ravier said this week that the message had been prepared by Milei together with Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno and the Intelligence Secretariat, an unusual disclosure in Argentine official communications about the agency's work.

pic.twitter.com/9eKVmbihyJ

— Secretaría de Inteligencia (@SIDE_Argentina) September 4, 2026

Intelligence services do not customarily publicize references to their own observation activities. Law 25,520, which governs Argentina's national intelligence system, sets limits on the conduct of these agencies, among them a prohibition on intervening in the country's domestic political situation.

Neither the Falkland Islands Government nor Britain's Foreign Office had commented on the post at the time of publication. Asked this week ahead of Milei's address, a Foreign Office spokesperson reiterated that the British position is “long-standing and unwavering” and that the islands “are and will remain a British Overseas Territory,” in line with the wishes of the islanders. MercoPress sought comment from the Intelligence Secretariat and received no response.

The archipelago, home to some 3,600 people, has been administered by the United Kingdom since 1833 and is claimed by Argentina. In the 2013 referendum, monitored by observers from six countries, residents voted 99.8% in favor of retaining British Overseas Territory status, with three votes against. Argentina does not recognize that vote and maintains that the right to self-determination does not apply to the islands' population.