What is currently presented under the euphemisms of "account review" or "expense audit" hides an alarming operational reality: the systematic defunding of the Argentine Antarctic Program. We are not simply talking about another fiscal adjustment; we are facing a paralysis that threatens to turn our bases into empty shells and our sovereignty into a mere wishful thinking.
The Suffocation of the Summer Campaign
The Summer Antarctic Campaign (CAV) is the heart that pumps blood to the entire system. It is the critical moment when personnel are surveyed, structures are repaired, fuel and supplies for the polar winter are stocked, and, fundamentally, scientific teams are deployed.
Confidential reports circulating between the Libertador Building and the San Martín Palace indicate that the "chainsaw" has reached the icebreakers and Hercules aircraft. The lack of budgetary movement is jeopardizing the most basic logistics. Without guaranteed funds for naval fuel, without foreign currency for aviation spare parts, and with food supplies tightly rationed, Argentina faces the real risk of leaving its scientists stranded and its bases inadequately supplied.
An Antarctic base without supplies is not sovereignty; it is a survival situation. If the state withdraws from logistics, the Argentine presence is reduced to a testimonial survival, unworthy of a country that prides itself on being bi-continental.
The Conceptual Error: Militarizing Science
Beyond money, there is an ideological and bureaucratic battle that is as dangerous, if not more so, than the lack of funds. There is a manifest intention to shift the focus of Antarctic policy from the Foreign Ministry to the Ministry of Defense.
Historically, the strength of the Argentine sovereign claim has been based on science and diplomacy. The Antarctic Treaty, of which we are original signatories, dedicates the continent to peace and research. The National Directorate of the Antarctic (DNA) and the Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA) are the civil agencies that have legitimized our presence before the world.
By trying to strip power (and funding) from the civil structure of the Foreign Ministry to hand complete control to the military sphere, the government makes a geopolitical miscalculation. Not because the Armed Forces are not vital—they are the indispensable and heroic logistical arm—but because militarizing the political management of Antarctica weakens our international position. In a global scenario where powers like the United Kingdom seek any excuse to delegitimize the Argentine claim, transforming a scientific presence into purely military occupation is to give them the perfect argument.
The Void That Others Will Fill
International politics abhors a vacuum. Every meter that Argentina cedes due to inaction, neglect, or "fiscal savings" is a space that other actors are eager to occupy.
While Buenos Aires debates whether there is money for the diesel of the icebreaker Almirante Irízar, other nations are expanding their facilities. Chile strengthens its gateway in Punta Arenas; the United Kingdom modernizes its bases in the South Atlantic islands and the peninsula; China and Russia greedily eye the strategic resources of the future (freshwater, minerals, and biodiversity).
Believing that Antarctica is a superfluous expense is an unforgivable strategic myopia. Antarctica is the largest reserve of drinking water on the planet and a key climate regulator. Renouncing scientific research—which is the currency of exchange in the Antarctic Treaty System—is to exclude oneself from the decision-making table of the future.
The defunding of the Antarctic Program cannot be fixed with a DNU nor recovered in the next fiscal year. A historical series of interrupted scientific data loses its value. A closed base deteriorates within months under polar conditions. A scientist trained for years who emigrates due to lack of projects is human capital that does not return.
The government seems to forget that sovereignty is not defended with heated speeches on social media, but with effective, continuous, and professional presence on the ground. Defunding Antarctica is, in practice, lowering the flag. And in the frigid southern landscape, the country that withdraws, even if temporarily, may never be able to reclaim its place.
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