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The head of the United States Southern Command, Laura Richardson, reissued last week the constant patrolling of the United States over Argentina, while the dissolving positions of President Javier Milei regarding the constructions of Latin American integration seem to be part of the same clamp.
Richardson already revealed his plans last year, when he openly admitted that his country’s interest in the region is in natural assets: lithium, water and oil, among other “rich resources and rare earth elements.”
“Is there any doubt that I am aligned with the United States and with Israel?” asked the Argentine president, in an interview with the financial agency Bloomberg after the questioned event with US military authorities in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world.
Already during the electoral campaign, Milei had warned of choosing the United States as his main vector of foreign policy, from which derives his automatic alignment in the active scenario of Washington, be it the NATO war against Russia, support for the genocidal policy of Israel on Palestine or the constant provocations to China.
How do you conquer a country without even needing a war?: when those inside hand it over. Analyst Néstor Restivo points out that now, he achieves inaction, contempt and insult to the links that our country has with the space that should be the priority of the Foreign Ministry: the regional environment.
The head of the Southern Command of the United States already made her intentions clear last year, when she readily admitted that her country’s interest in the region is in our natural assets: lithium, water and oil, among other “rich resources and rare earth elements.
occasion costume
Disguised in a military sash suit, the far-right Milei appeared at night in Ushuaia, capital of Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost province of the country, where there once existed a prison (from the End of the World) of sinister memory, to declare his total alignment with the United States and the Western world, before the head of the United States Southern Command, General Laura Richardson.
Along with it, he announced the establishment of a US base, a few miles from where a huge British naval base is located on an island in the Malvinas archipelago, a colony of that country claimed since 1833 by Argentina to which it belongs.
In the second city of that island territory, Tolhuin, the then president Carlos Menem decreed in 1995 the installation of a base of the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (better known as NASA) to supposedly monitor nuclear explosions.
From Ushuaia, south of the south, Milei gave a new example of dedication to the service of the United States. Together with Rucardson and the American ambassador Mark Stanley, Milei and his cabinet paid homage to Washington, promising new and juicy businesses, in addition to strengthening ties at the military level, just two days after the 42nd anniversary of the Malvinas war.
Milei wanted to make it clear that Argentina’s alignment under his management will be with the United States, known for its link with Biden’s rival in the next US elections, former President Donald Trump. Washington is interested in countering China’s influence on the continent.
Argentine abandonment
The United States does not need to set foot in the South Atlantic: it has it in the Malvinas and in Chile, a long-standing ally. What they need is to keep China as far away as possible. And Argentina is the only loose end they had left. The naval base is just a symptom or consequence of something bigger: Argentina’s abandonment of two dams in the southern province of Santa Cruz and the project to build a fourth nuclear reactor with financing from Beijing.
It also means the departure from the BRICS, the imminent veto of Huawei to participate in the 5G network (which delays the country for several years in the deployment of this technology) and the barriers for Chinese companies to participate in the exploration and exploitation of lithium. William Burns, the head of the CIA, had already ordered it when he passed through Buenos Aires: “With China, nothing at all.” Milei’s chief of staff, Nicolás Posse, traveled to Virginia in January, to the CIA headquarters,
The national interest is a concept that is intellectually arduous for officials in this government. The path that Milei took is an unprecedented case of diplomicide, subordinating the foreign relations of a sovereign country to the war strategy of a foreign power, which seriously damages relations with the main historical partners, the largest commercial clients and the most important neighbors. .
“And it may conclude with a perhaps irreversible session of sovereignty that not only affects the South Atlantic Islands and the Argentine Sea but also endangers the claim on Antarctic territory,” says Nicolás Lantos.
Without a doubt it was a “libertarian” provocation to the country’s interests: the US anthem was played in Argentine territory a few kilometers from the Malvinas Islands and the American flag flew at the Ushuaia naval base, in the act that Milei organized for the General Richardson. As a reward, the Navy received a Hercules plane as a gift.
“Our allies are going to be the modern West and all the countries that propose modern civilizations, societies of the future that are truly standing in the 21st century, and that, of course, are far from dictators,” said Manuel Adorni, presidential spokesperson, who He added fuel to the fire by stating that there is an agreement with the US to advance the construction of an integrated naval base in Tierra del Fuego, although he avoided providing details of the financing.
Chinese patience
Chinese diplomacy, of proverbial patience, began to show signs of exhaustion in the face of constant aggression from the Argentine president, the chancellor and the spokespersons. Several times the Chinese embassy had to resort to social media to deny government officials, something unusual.
Foreign Minister Diana Mondino (left aside in the relationship with the US, in the hands of the Chief of Staff) is trying to rebuild the link. Her absence in Ushuaia once again fueled replacement rumors. The old diplomats explain to Mondino that far from integrating into the world, the strategy of submission chosen by Milei isolates the country from its natural partners.
The truth is that the United States cannot (nor does it want to) buy what China would stop demanding. Other markets open to Argentina, which could increase their purchases, are also at risk under this regime of automatic alignment with Washington: Russia, the Arab countries, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil.
Transfer of sovereignty
The former Minister of Defense, Nilda Garré, described the joint construction of a military base with the United States as “very serious.” «I can’t find the appropriate qualifiers. The United States has begun to look again at South America. For this reason, he put the Fourth Fleet, which was inactive, back into operation.”
The base “has a fundamental strategic importance because we are close to Antarctica and it is part of the path that must be taken to cross the straits that separate us from the Pacific and, in addition, it is very close to the Malvinas Islands,” Garré added:
And he recalled that “lately, Laura Richardson, head of the Southern Command, which is a true foreign ministry for South America, began to visit us. “She already visited us three times during Milei’s government,” she explained.
«It is crazy that (Milei) has led that event in Ushuaia at 12 at night, on the national network, to announce such nonsense, of creating a base together with the Americans in national territory. “It is an absolutely unacceptable transfer of sovereignty,” said the former minister, former ambassador to the OAS and to Venezuela and elected national deputy five times since 1973.
Garré also warned about the consequences of the ideological invasion on the Armed Forces, in a number of diplomatic decisions. «A few days ago the UN Human Rights Council met to discuss the Palestine issue and many countries voted in favor of the ceasefire and various measures to mitigate the severity of the conflict. Argentina, the US and Israel voted against. Only five voted against. “Argentina is a slave to the international politics of the United States.”
«Overacting the alignment can be very dangerous. We have to be very careful with the steps we take, since we can become involved in conflicts in which we have no interest,” said Garré. Milei’s course – also embarked on bombing regional integration – puts at risk national sovereignty and the right of Argentines to live in peace, outside of conflicts where they have much more to lose than to gain.
Aram Aharonian
*Uruguayan journalist and communicator. Master in Integration. Creator and founder of Telesur. He presides over the Foundation for Latin American Integration (FILA) and directs the Latin American Center for Strategic Analysis (CLAE).
