Guide to understanding Chile-Argentina controversy

At the end of April, the Argentine Navy inaugurated the renovation of its facilities at a border post in Tierra del Fuego, which crossed Chilean territory by more than three meters, creating an impasse between both countries. The place is strategic, since it is located at the eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan.

What happened. On April 29, the Argentine Navy inaugurated new facilities of the “Maritime Traffic Surveillance and Control Post (PVYCTM) Milestone 1”, built on the border with Chile and whose renovation crossed Chilean territory by more than 3 meters, as The Directorate of Borders and Limits verified it.

• Hito 1 (on the Argentine side) and Cabo del Espíritu Santo (on the Chilean side) are north of the Island of Tierra del Fuego, which is territorially divided between Chile and Argentina (more than 61% of the island belongs to Chile ).
• From the Chilean side, the territory is part of the province of Tierra del Fuego – whose capital is Porvenir -, in the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region, whose capital is Punta Arenas.
• From the Argentine side, it is part of the province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands. whose capital is Ushuaia.
• It is a strategic point since the southern shore of the eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan is located there.

What is Argentine construction like? The Argentine facilities are a renovation of the Surveillance Post. In this framework, the Navy of that country received a donation of two housing modules from the Mirgor Foundation and energy equipment from the company Total Energies.

Image of the Argentine base at Milestone 1.

Image of the northern border area of ​​Tierra del Fuego where you can see the Argentine facilities (in blue), the solar panels (on the right) and the Chilean facilities (in the background, in white and red).

• The renovation of the facilities was carried out on the same border with Chile and exceeded Chilean territory by 3 meters.
• During the inauguration and as reported by Gaceta Marinera of Argentina, the Commander of the Southern Naval Area (ANAU) of that country, José Alberto Martí Garro pointed out that “this initiative will improve the conditions of habitability, operability and sustainability of the post, constituting a sample of work jointly between the institutions of the National State and the contribution of private companies. The work establishes a clear example of synergy, which is materialized in the work of construction companies and specialized labor based in the province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands.”
• This same medium indicates that the housing modules donated by the Mirgor Foundation are transportable and were designed to meet the needs of Navy personnel in the PVYCTM Hito 1, where satellite monitoring of the Strait of Magellan is carried out.

Inauguration of the renovation of the Argentine facilities, with the solar panels (on the left, the Chilean facilities can be seen in red and white).

Reactions in Chile. The Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that it had sent a formal communication to the Argentine Foreign Ministry noting that a portion of the facilities existed in Chilean territory.

• The Chilean Foreign Minister, Alberto van Klaveren, noted that “we were informed of this situation. Our border and limits management quickly verified on the ground the error that had been made by this Argentine company that carried out the installation,” adding that “we believe that it was an error made in good faith.”
• According to the Argentine newspaper La Nación, “during Friday afternoon the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs of Chile, Gloria de la Fuente, communicated with her Argentine counterpart, Vice Chancellor Leopoldo Sahores, to point out the importance of solving this situation brevity”.
• “We believe that the Foreign Ministry acts correctly when demanding explanations of the case and without a doubt, what is appropriate is the demolition of this infrastructure, given that it is located in Chilean territory,” said Pedro Araya, president of the Defense Commission of the High camera.
• For his part, the president of the Defense Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Francisco Undurraga, said that “unfortunately, when we are talking about limits and borders, the Government has to be extremely rigorous in demanding their non-violation. We are very worried. If this had happened the other way around, the Argentine government would not have been as lax as our Chancellor was in his reaction.”
• According to what was expressed to Ex-Ante by the former director of intelligence of the Chilean Navy, Oscar Aranda, “the worrying thing is not that they have placed the plaque in Chilean territory, because the truth is it is a few meters and it is irrelevant. The serious thing is why they are building an observation and control post at the eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan.”
• Aranda points out that “the Treaty of 1881 declares that the Strait of Magellan is Chilean. However, already in the first half of the 20th century there were Argentine thinkers who began to develop the theory that although the Strait is Chilean, the gateway to the Strait is Argentina. Therefore, control of the Strait has to belong to both countries.”
• “This Argentine geopolitical theory was officially expressed for the first time in 2021. Argentina issues Decree 457, which says that it is essential to continue strengthening joint control of the Strait of Magellan. That provoked a note of protest from Chile. And through diplomatic channels, Argentina promised to correct decree 457, which it did not do,” adds Aranda.
• As former Undersecretary of Defense, Gabriel Gaspar, told Ex-Ante, “regarding the issue of solar panels in Milestone 1, I understand that they passed through Chilean territory between February and April. But if there had been something strange, he should have been informed. And if it was not reported it is because it was not known, which would seem very complicated to me.”

Chilean facilities on the northern border of Tierra del Fuego.

Reaction of the Argentine ambassador. In conversation with Radio Bío Bío, the Argentine ambassador to Chile, Jorge Faurie, acknowledged that “it was a material error because whoever installed the solar panels is a company that donated those panels (…) was guided by a wire fence from one stay that there is in the area. In reality he should have been guided by the satellite coordinates that demarcate boundaries. The issue is that moving them, at this time, would not be possible. “We would have to wait for the summer.”

• “The Chilean Foreign Ministry informed me when I had a meeting yesterday about another issue, and having become aware of this claim, we said that the withdrawal was going to proceed. It is a factual error,” Faurie told the Argentine newspaper La Nación today.
• Faurie pointed out in Bio Bío that there is another alternative “that we are considering and talking to the Chilean authorities. That those panels that are electricity suppliers could also supply

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