
The landing in Ushuaia of a U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying a bipartisan delegation of U.S. lawmakers has reignited political controversy in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego province and sharpened attention on the country’s strategic footprint in the South Atlantic and Antarctica, amid deepening ties between President Javier Milei and U.S. President Donald Trump.
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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.

Governor Jorge Flies of the Chilean Magallanes and Antarctica Region announced a project to build an underwater tunnel linking the mainland with Tierra del Fuego, an initiative from which Argentina would also benefit. The proposal submitted during a National Conference on Policies for Extreme Zones in Chile seeks to replace the current barge 3.7 kilometers crossing through the Strait of Magellan. The 4-kilometer submarine tunnel would entail a US$1.5 billion investment.

“Stop making politics with Malvinas,” openly complained municipal staff from the city of Ushuaia, capital of Tierra del Fuego, who were obliged to attend a conference on the “Malvinas” issue, and allegedly had to stand for political comments from national Senator Maria Eugenia Dure.

Gustavo Melella, Governor of the province of Tierra del Fuego, which, according to Argentina, technically includes the country's portion of Antarctica and the British Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic (mainly the Falkland Islands) said last week that London “cannot continue to turn its back on international law and we will denounce them as many times as necessary.”

The history section of daily “Diario del Fin del Mundo”, edited in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego province, extreme south of Argentina, recalls that almost a century and a half ago, more precisely December 1881, the Falkland Islands Company, FIC, “at the time with total control over the Falklands economy”, approached the Argentine government offering to buy the total of Peninsula Valdes, Chubut province and an area in Tierra del Fuego next to San Sebastian Bay, and its surrounding 160 leguas (league) for the rearing of sheep.

Tierra del Fuego National Senator Matías Rodríguez was found dead in his home in Ushuaia on Wednesday under circumstances that have yet to be determined but suggest a suicide, it was reported.

Success and the brilliant sportsmanship spirit from the Falkland Islands hockey teams, and their trophies, at the Punta Arenas Winter Cup, could not have come with some acid comments from Argentina.

One of Buenos Aires' main dailies, La Nacion, is reporting that China will not back down from its port plan in Patagonia, as promised by the regional and national governments. In early June, Argentine Governor of Tierra del Fuego Gustavo Melella revived an old controversy concerning a deal with a Chinese company to build a multipurpose port in Rio Grande

Argentine authorities Friday confirmed the detection of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 in sea lions found dead on the Tierra del Fuego shores.