The recent regulatory package implemented by the National Executive Branch— formalized through decrees and calls for bids to privatize and reprivatize key hydroelectric complexes in Comahue, Mendoza (Los Nihuiles), and units in the north and center of the country —is not merely a reformulation of the electricity market. In its geopolitical and structural dimensions, it represents a dangerous setback in Argentina's capacity to exercise effective sovereignty over its strategic resources and its national energy matrix.

The auctioning off of hydroelectric and thermal infrastructures—built, financed, and sustained with the capital and planning of the Argentine State over more than half a century—exposes an extractivist and financialist logic where strategic assets are sacrificed under the fiscal urgency of capturing foreign currency in the short term.

The handover of assets and the loss of state control

Control of water and energy generation is not merely an economic or tariff-related variable: it is an indispensable pillar of national security and territorial self-determination. By relinquishing ownership and management of key complexes such as Alicurá, El Chocón-Arroyito, Cerros Colorados, Piedra del Águila , and the Los Nihuiles system on the Atuel River, the Argentine State is voluntarily relinquishing its regulatory power over baseload generation of the Argentine Interconnected System (SADI).

This "accelerated auction" policy transfers high-value strategic assets to transnational private capital. It is a scheme in which the pursuit of corporate profit displaces the public interest and national development planning, leaving the country vulnerable to foreign-imposed tariffs and in its energy decision-making.

----------------------------- THE MAP OF ENERGY PLUNDERING

• Comahue Region : Alicurá, El Chocón-Arroyito, Cerros Colorados and Piedra del Águila (Auction and private concession).

• Mendoza (Atuel River): Los Nihuiles Complex (Nihuil I, II, III, IV, dams and Valle Grande dike). 100% HEMSA tender.

• Tucumán and Chubut : Concession extensions prior to privatization (El Cadillal, Escaba, Pueblo Viejo and Futaleufú).

• Thermal Infrastructure (ENARSA): San Martín (Timbúes) and Manuel Belgrano (Campana) Power Plants.

wide).                                         |

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Amputated sovereignty: a common thread

The dismantling of the State in the control of its continental resources bears a direct parallel to the legal and economic framework that has facilitated colonial consolidation and the plundering of resources in the South Atlantic.

A state that sells off its dams, rivers, and primary energy sources loses political and institutional strength to maintain a firm stance against international pressures. Subordinating national interests to the dictates of the foreign financial market weakens a country's capacity to defend its energy, maritime, and territorial borders.

The dismantling of state-owned enterprises and the handover of vital infrastructure represent a model of dispossession that undermines Argentina's self-determination. Restoring the strategic importance of energy and defending the public assets accumulated over generations is an essential condition for any inclusive project of national sovereignty.