Facing the icy waters of the Beagle Channel, a 20-meter-long wall in the city of Ushuaia commemorates the names of 649 Argentine soldiers who died in 1982, in the war with the United Kingdom. There is an ever-burning flame and a bronze work representing the Falkland Islands, whose sovereignty Argentina has claimed since the 19th century. A few meters from the memorial, a British-flagged oil tanker remained this Monday. The province of Tierra del Fuego expressed its strong condemnation of the operation of the ship VS Promise in the region and pointed to the government of Javier Milei, which has intervened in the administration of the southernmost port.
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“It is unacceptable that, while the United Kingdom maintains the illegitimate occupation of an integral part of the territory of Tierra del Fuego — the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands, and the corresponding maritime and island spaces — a vessel flying the British flag operates in the port of the capital of the province to which those territories belong,” states the communiqué issued by the Fuegian government, headed by Gustavo Melella.
“The seriousness of the event is even greater due to the circumstances in which it occurs,” the statement adds. “The national government sought to justify the intervention of the Port of Ushuaia precisely by invoking its status as a strategic asset and the need to safeguard sovereignty and national interests in the South Atlantic. Today, the facts expose the contradiction between that argument and the management that the national government carries out once the provincial authorities have been displaced.”
Milei intervened in the port last January, citing alleged fund diversions and infrastructure problems. The measure meant removing port administration and its million-dollar revenues from the southernmost province of the country, whose governor is a declared opponent of the president. Ushuaia is a key point for access to Antarctica and the South Atlantic.
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Tierra del Fuego’s condemnation of the presence of the oil tanker VS Promise is based on the validity of provincial law 852, which prohibits the stay, mooring, and supply of ships flying the English flag in its ports, in rejection of the British occupation of the Falklands. The province demands that the national administration report on the authorization granted to the ship, that the port intervention cease, and warns that “it will not remain indifferent to decisions unilaterally made from the central power.” Until Monday night, Milei’s government had not responded to the claims nor publicly commented on the case.
The VS Promise is a vessel 228 meters long, 32 meters wide, and capable of transporting 73,800 deadweight tons, about 500,000 barrels of crude oil. It is registered under the shipping company Valloeby Promise Ltd, based in the Isle of Man. According to naval traffic tracking platforms, the ship was at the Río Cullen oil terminal until August 13. From there, it exports the business consortium led by Total Energies.
The sovereignty conflict over the Falklands is always a sensitive issue in Argentina, which this year was heightened by the confrontation, in the World Cup, between the South American country’s and England’s national teams. Once the match ended, Albiceleste fans threw a hand-painted flag onto the field. The players unfolded it, and a legend could be seen: “The Falklands are Argentine.”
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