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

Javier Milei has announced sanctions against companies exploiting natural resources in the Falkland Islands and plans to build a naval base on Argentina’s southern mainland. The president made the announcement in a nationally televised address on Thursday.

Milei said Argentina would prohibit companies involved directly or indirectly in projects in the islands from operating in Argentine territory without authorization from Buenos Aires. He also said he would sign a decree to speed sanctions against the companies, their shareholders, executives and suppliers.

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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.

The president said he would send Congress a bill to increase penalties. Under the proposed measures, affected companies could be barred from operating on the Argentine mainland and could face trials in absentia.

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This base will make us the most important logistical hub in the South Atlantic and will be fundamental to Argentina’s geopolitical projection.

He announced a second decree to expand Defense Ministry resources for an integrated naval base in Tierra del Fuego, one of the continental areas closest to the South Atlantic archipelago. “This base will make us the most important logistical hub in the South Atlantic and will be fundamental to Argentina’s geopolitical projection,” Milei said.

Milei focused particularly on an oil-extraction project involving Israel’s Navitas and Britain’s Rockhopper. He said the project could mark the beginning of oil exploitation in the islands, which Britain has occupied since 1833 and whose sovereignty Argentina claims. Argentina sanctioned Rockhopper in 2013 and Navitas in 2022. Britain’s Borders & Southern and Canada’s JHI also hold exploration licenses there.

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If we do not act firmly and quickly today, within a few months they will have the material capacity to seize the oil reserves beneath our sea, something that has never happened before until now.

Milei said sanctions could later cover other Falklands activities, including fishing, cruise tourism and sheep farming. His proposed legislation would also create a National Security Council responsible for protecting critical infrastructure and Argentina’s air and maritime domains. “A poor country without armed forces can hardly advance its sovereignty claims effectively,” he said, adding that protecting the South Atlantic was a national-security issue.

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A poor country without armed forces can hardly advance its sovereignty claims effectively.