Milei to sanction companies operating in Falklands and plans naval base in southern Argentina

Javier Milei has announced sanctions against companies involved in natural-resource projects in the Falkland Islands and plans to build a naval base in Tierra del Fuego, one of Argentina’s continental areas closest to the South Atlantic archipelago.

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We will bar from operating in Argentine territory the companies involved, directly or indirectly, in projects on the Falkland Islands without Argentine authorization.

In a nationally broadcast message, the Argentine president said companies involved directly or indirectly in Falklands projects without Argentine authorization would be barred from operating in Argentine territory. Argentina claims sovereignty over the islands, which it describes as under British occupation.

Milei also announced a decree that would provide additional resources to the Defense Ministry, with the priority of building an integrated naval base in Tierra del Fuego. “Ensuring our pre-eminence in this territory is not a political whim, it is survival,” he said. “Whoever has greater reach over the South Atlantic will be in a better position to defend their interests.”

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Ensuring our pre-eminence in this territory is not a political whim, it is survival.

The president singled out the Sea Lion project, operated by Navitas Petroleum and Rockhopper Exploration. He said the project had a date to begin offshore oil extraction around the Falkland Islands sometime in the coming months. “If we do not act firmly and swiftly today, in a few months they will have the material capacity to seize the oil reserves beneath our sea, something that had never happened before,” Milei warned.

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Whoever has greater reach over the South Atlantic will be in a better position to defend their interests.

Milei also referred to Donald Trump’s recent statement that he was reassessing his position on the Falklands. He said “winds of change favorable to Argentina’s claim to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands are blowing around the world.”

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