Tierra del Fuego denounces the presence of a British oil tanker in southern Argentina and blames Milei
The provincial administration, which has jurisdiction over the Falklands, condemned the mooring of the vessel in the port of Ushuaia, which is under intervention by the national government
Facing the icy waters of the Beagle Channel, a 20-meter-long wall in the city of Ushuaia lists the names of 649 Argentine soldiers killed in 1982 in the war with the United Kingdom. An eternal flame burns there and a bronze artwork represents the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), whose sovereignty Argentina has claimed since the 19th century. A few meters from the memorial, a British-flagged oil tanker was moored this Monday.
“It is unacceptable that, while the United Kingdom maintains the illegitimate occupation of territory that is an integral part of Tierra del Fuego — the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands and the corresponding maritime and insular spaces — a vessel flying the British flag would operate in the port of the capital of the province to which those territories belong,” a statement released by the Fuegian provincial government, led by Gustavo Melella, said.
“The seriousness of the incident is all the greater given the circumstances in which it occurs,” the declaration adds. “The national government sought to justify its intervention in the Port of Ushuaia by invoking, precisely, its status as a strategic asset and the need to safeguard sovereignty and national interests in the South Atlantic. Today, events expose the contradiction between that argument and the way the national government is managing matters once provincial authorities have been displaced.”
Argentine President Javier Milei intervened in the port in January, citing alleged misappropriation of funds and infrastructure problems. The decision removed the port authority and its multimillion-dollar revenues from the country’s southernmost province, whose governor is an outspoken opponent of the president. Ushuaia is a key gateway to Antarctica and the South Atlantic.
Tierra del Fuego’s condemnation of the appearance of the tanker, VS Promise, is based on provincial law 852, which bans the presence, mooring, and resupply of ships flying the British flag in its ports as a rejection of what Buenos Aires terms the British occupation of the Falklands. The province demands that the national administration report on the authorization granted to the vessel, end the port intervention, and warns that “it will not remain indifferent to decisions adopted unilaterally from the central government.” As of Monday night, the Milei administration had not responded to the complaints nor publicly commented on the case.
The VS Promise is a 228-meter-long vessel with a 32-meter beam and a deadweight capacity of 73,800 tons, or roughly 500,000 barrels of crude. It is registered to the shipping company Valloeby Promise Ltd, based on the Isle of Man. According to ship-tracking platforms, the vessel was at the Río Cullen oil terminal until August 13. The business consortium led by Total Energies exports from there.
The dispute over sovereignty of the Falklands has always been a sensitive issue in Argentina and this year it was amplified by the match between the national team and England at the FIFA World Cup. After the game, Argentina fans threw a hand-painted flag onto the pitch. Players unfolded it and a legend could be read: “The Malvinas are Argentine.”
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