The “stateless way” with which national politics despises Argentine sovereignty in the Southwestern Atlantic has very few precedents since the independent Argentina that we commemorated last July 9 with the signing of the so-called “May Pact”, in which points, no There is only one line referring to national sovereignty and, very particularly, to the only State policy, embodied in the First Transitory Provision of the National Constitution.
While the expanded Declaration of Independence of Argentina of July 9, 1816 formally declared “the breaking of the ties of dependence of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata with the Spanish monarchy and with all other foreign domination,” the aforementioned Pact of May, does not mention anything regarding a policy of recovery of the 1.6 million km2 of Argentine maritime jurisdiction and the Argentine archipelagos occupied by the United Kingdom; Nor does it take into account that Kingdom's dispute over more than 1.4 million km2 of the Argentine continental shelf, Antarctica and the corresponding waters. Much less does it refer to the Spanish and other national vessels that extract our resources in the Malvinas. Argentina, without conflict hypothesis.
We have already suffered the policy of Cavallo - one of the main leaders of this government - to ingratiate himself with the British with the signing of the so-called Madrid Agreements (1989/90) where illegal fishing permits in the Malvinas were consolidated, which constitute - until today - the main economic resource of the islanders that now gives rise to joint ventures with Galician companies that facilitate the access of fishing products to the European Union without paying tariffs despite Brexit. The same Cavallo that would agree with the United Kingdom to protect the exploitation of resources east of the Malvinas and joint fishing research in the South Atlantic; all events that strengthened the British position in the Islands (John Barton, English Director of Fisheries in the Malvinas, 2012) . Also, the issuance of Law 23,968 promoted by the Chancellery facilitated the delimitation of the archipelagos occupied by the United Kingdom, in addition to reducing our full sovereignty to 12 miles in 1991; even before ratifying the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1995. On Tuesday 13, 2016, the Foradori-Duncan Pact would be signed, ratifying the Madrid Agreements under the slogan of “eliminating all obstacles to the development of the Malvinas ”. Shameful. Even so, Argentina, in all these years, did not stop demanding the arrogant British occupation and the rights over the invaded archipelagos; as happens today.
However, The worst is yet to come, because not only are Argentine rights resigned - through isolated events - but, under the pretext of an “anarcho-capitalist” policy, different “stateless people” from the government and outside of it, carry out a plan of session of Argentine territorial spaces and alienation of our natural resources . In some cases, through the mere payment of some deindustrializing fee and, in others, due to geopolitical anomie and lack of interest in administering the State, its heritage and cultural assets and even “destroying it from within,” as Milei himself stated.
Days before, Chancellor Mondino, when signing at the UN the “ Agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity on the high seas” (BBNJ) with utter ignorance, referred to “ protecting our waters ” and “ being inflexible in the defense of our territory " ignoring that these are international waters where Argentina has no jurisdiction and that in no way does this Agreement resolve illegal fishing as manifest; but on the contrary, the already presence of a fishing fleet of more than 500 foreign fishing vessels, through the creation provided for in this Agreement of “ regional economic integration organizations ” and their incorporation by the United Kingdom, will be will have given the status of “coastal State” to the islanders occupying the Malvinas, contrary to what is regulated in the First Transitional Provision of the National Constitution. While signing Agreements contrary to the national interest and in an ignorant manner, it ponders them, tolerates the annual illegal fishing of 250 thousand tons of fishing resources in the Malvinas without applying Argentine legislation and UN Res. 31/49, with a behavior that is would typify - at least - a breach of official duties, since it is the most important illegal fishing in the world from one State to another, ignoring what Manuel Belgrano already knew in the 18th century: “ a State without fishing nothing can over the sea .”
The economist-chancellor is unaware that the Marine Protected Areas (MPA) that this Agreement promotes; They have been used by the United Kingdom since 2017 to control overseas territories. This is the case of the Malvinas of the so-called “Blue belt” where the Benthic MPA project “Agujero Azul” promoted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) foundation would complete the blue belt to the NORTHEAST of the Malvinas, facilitating the arrival of fishing resources to the islands. Likewise, to the SOUTH of the Malvinas with the British unilateral declaration of an “ecological sanctuary” of one million km2 around the Georgia and Sandwich Islands; to the EAST with the aforementioned Cavallo Agreement and to the NORTHWEST with the GAP of 1,400 km2 of calamari.
Project 1258-D-2024 by Representative Manes is added, which aims for Congress to declare MPAs for 595,000 km2, without mentioning that the United Kingdom - as we indicated - has already declared an MPA of 1,070,000 km2, that is, a reduction in the areas catch much larger than that required in the biodiversity agreement. A pathetic example of colonization and, an astonishing mutation from “neurology” to “oceanography”.
Macro or microeconomics is not useful to develop a maritime strategy: «85% of remote fishing on the high seas is carried out by China, Spain, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, which, of the world total of 37 million fishing hours, occupy 25 million; For this reason, the greatest damage is not caused by the remaining 216 States, but rather by only five, which are the same ones that operate in the Southwest Atlantic and, therefore, we must work on those countries responsible for the imbalance of the ecosystems, together they capture 26 million tons of a total 84 million/year (2019), 31% of the catches of “221 States that reported some type of activity in the fisheries trade” (FAO, “State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture”, 2020) and, we add: the United Kingdom, which takes the equivalent of 30% of our landings. The Argentine Foreign Ministry does none of this and it is not just about ineptitude - which there is - but rather a policy of demalvinization, which is the tip of the iceberg of national submission and dependence, with the consequent neglect of territorial sovereignty and resources. Argentine natives. Otherwise, the fishing reform project in the Base Law on the foreignization of the exploitation of the Argentine sea could not be understood; the permanence of a British radar in Tierra del Fuego; the appointment of ambassadors Jorge Faurie in Chile - the British strategic partner - and Carlos Foradori in Geneva, both responsible for the Foradori-Duncan Pact that promoted “the development of the Malvinas” in the power of the islanders; the neglect of the strategic Ports of Ushuaia and Río Grande, while in Malvinas a new port is being put out to tender aimed at providing logistics for transport, military, tourism and science vessels linked to Antarctica.
The confrontation with the presidents of our three main fish buyers: Brazil, China and Spain and, of course, the fight with all our natural allies who "threaten to make the UN lose historical support for the Malvinas Cause" (Taglioni, Augusto, LPO, 7/11/24); the tolerance of Israeli companies exploiting oil resources in the Malvinas while promoting the transfer of the Argentine embassy to Jerusalem, etc. To which must be added the paralysis of all strategic works, including the northern stage of the NK Gas Pipeline.
And the worst thing is, it is not a simple assignment of priorities, it is not possible to expect from stateless people projects aimed at strengthening political, territorial and food sovereignty.
Dr. César Augusto Lerena
Expert in South Atlantic and Fisheries – Former Secretary of State
President of the Agustina Lerena Foundation
President Center for Studies for Latin American Fisheries (CESPEL)
July 18, 2024
