Neither the Malvinas cause nor the possible removal of subsidies stopped the “lion”

In the Patagoniafive of seven governors openly declared themselves in favor of the Unión por la Patria candidate, Sergio Massa. One of them was Tierra del Fuego, Gustavo Melella, who last week he had said that if he won Javier Milei (Freedom Advances) “we would have problems paying salaries“. Milei is a person “unable to understand and manage a State. Imagine if one day you wake up and decide stop sending co-participation to the provinces. We will not be able to pay salaries or continue doing infrastructure works. That would be the consequence,” Melella said.

Along the same lines, the Fuegian president referred to a possible removal of gas subsidies wave electricity and how this would affect provinces like Tierra del Fuego, with climates very similar to those of Santa Cruz. “In an area with a cold climate like ours, we have to heat ourselves all year round. ¿How would we do it with rates eight or ten times higher?? ¿What would we do, return to the firewood?”, asked the re-elected governor in May of this year with 51% of the votes.

Melella also described Milei as someone who “goes from one place to the other with incredible ease” and who “it’s scary“. But even despite these warnings from the Fuegian leader, in that province, as in the rest of Patagonia, the leader of Libertad Avanza prevailed. Milei managed 54,832 voteshe 53.29%against 48,046 votes of Massahe 46.70%in an election where 1.02% of blank votes and 3.17% of null votes.

The libertarian candidate obtained victories in the city of Ushuaiain Tolhuin and in the Antarctica ArgentinaMeanwhile in Rio Grande won Massa for a point advantage. This last fact is not minor. In that town there is a strong presence of the industry of assembly of household products and electronics. Yesterday, in one of his first statements to the press as president-elect, Milei introduced the possibility of removing tariffs on imported electronics productswhich would be a strong blow to the national industry of the island of Tierra del Fuego.

The topic Falklands It was also a harsh questioning from the Fuegian governor, after the presidential debate where Milei confirmed his admiration for Margaret Thatcher. The governor defined -on that occasion- as “reproachable” and “despicable” to the LLA leader’s allusions to the former British prime minister. “Thatcher was a murderer. What she did was order the sinking of the General Belgrano Cruisewhich was out of theater in 1982. That was a war crime“, he claimed. In that sense, he recalled that the Malvinas cause constitutes an indissoluble and deeply rooted feeling for the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego.

“A Fuegian is outraged when he hears these things. They talk about recognizing the self-determination of the Kelpers, when it is a clearly established people, because our citizens were kicked out and were never allowed to enter the islands again,” he stated.

The polls, as in many other places in the country, seemed to turn in Milei’s favor for other reasons.