Javier Milei’s Malvinas announcements: a point-by-point account of the president’s national address

Javier Milei devoted a 15-minute national address to the Malvinas, placing Argentina’s sovereignty claim over the islands at the center of his message. The prerecorded speech aired from the White Room of the Casa Rosada, with members of his cabinet beside him.

“The Malvinas are Argentine, by history and by right,” Milei said at the start of the address. He argued that the United Kingdom occupied the islands in 1833, expelled Argentine authorities and established a colonial situation that continues today. He also said the islanders, whom he described as a population installed in an occupied territory, do not hold a legitimate right to self-determination.

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The Malvinas are Argentine, by history and by right.

Milei said the United Nations had spent 50 years calling on the parties to avoid unilateral action until the dispute was resolved. He accused the United Kingdom of violating that appeal and pointed specifically to the Sea Lion project, operated by Navitas Petroleum and Rockhopper Exploration. According to Milei, the companies plan to begin offshore oil extraction in the coming months.

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In 1833, the United Kingdom occupied the Malvinas, expelled the Argentine authorities and installed a colonial situation that continues to this day.

“If we do not act firmly and swiftly, in a few months they will have the capacity to appropriate the oil reserves beneath our sea, something that has never happened before,” he said. Milei announced that Argentina would deploy diplomatic, economic, judicial and legal tools to deter state and non-state actors that violate what he called the country’s sovereignty.

The president said Argentina’s Foreign Ministry had already sent nearly 180 discouragement notes to companies and to more than 29 countries involved in different projects on the islands. The address also included plans to create a naval base in Tierra del Fuego and a National Security Council.

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If we do not act firmly and swiftly, in a few months they will have the capacity to appropriate the oil reserves beneath our sea, something that has never happened before.