In one of the milestones of the United States' diplomatic and military offensive to contain China's advance in Latin America, the United States nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS George Washington, will arrive in Argentina next May.
It is the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named after the first president.
And at the end of the year after a refit that lasted six years, longer than expected, she was once again the main ship of the US Seventh Fleet based in Japan.
She is the only American aircraft carrier in the Pacific,
replacing the USS Ronald Reagan, which was based in Yokosuka, Japan.
And it is an area of high geostrategic interest that causes tensions with China, which does not like the presence of its rival in an area that it dominates.
His arrival in the South Atlantic is also one of
Javier Milei's strong gestures to his first ally
in the international sphere.
The information, which was
anticipated on the Radar International site
this Friday to
Clarín
by high official sources.
They said that at the moment, if the operation is not included in the current treatment in Congress of the traditional law of entry and exit of troops to the national territory, it will have a welcoming ceremony on the high seas by the Argentine government.
Then, President Milei and several of his ministers would travel by helicopter to the USS George Washington, which will not dock in any port in Argentina, where there is certainly no infrastructure for it to dock.
It is deduced that, in addition to Milei, ministers Luis Petri (Defense);
Patricia Bullrich (Security), Diana Mondino (Foreign Relations);
the president's sister and general secretary of the Presidency, Karina Milei;
plus the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brigadier General Xavier Isaac and the head of the Navy, Carlos Alievi.
Brian Nichols, Undersecretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Marc Stanley, US Ambassador to Argentina, Jack Sullivan, National Security Advisor, Javier Milei, Nicolás Posse, Luis Caputo and Gerardo Werthein during the President's visit to Washington after win the November elections and before taking office Photo: @rmathus
While Chief of Staff Nicholás Posse has just finished his tour of Washington, where he held interviews with the highest officials of Joe Biden's administration, the Deputy Secretary of the State Department, Brian Nichols, will be in Buenos Aires on Monday.
It is not ruled out then that this may lead to a visit by Antony Blinken himself, head of diplomacy for the United States government.
An image of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier stationed in Hong Kong in 2012
The United States is also within the support that recently allowed the International Monetary Fund to disburse
US$ 4.7 billion
that were expected to continue paying the debt.
For its part, Milei, although it will maintain normal commercial relations with China, has already announced that it will no longer be a "strategic partner."
For starters, it will not enter the BRICS and will buy a fleet of F16 supersonic aircraft from the United States and not from China.
As
Clarín
learned from military sources, relations are “going from strength to strength” and a visit from the commander of the United States Fourth Fleet, General Laura Richardson, is expected in April.
It is a visit that will clear up two more events:
the visit of the Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd Austin
, who is preparing the
first Defense Summit of the Hemisphere, which will be held in Buenos Aires
and which is scheduled for November.
Milei and Biden will also meet in Rio de Janeiro during the G20 summit, which will also take place in November.
In case the friendship pact sealed with Washington between the Freedom leader advances, this newspaper also knows that the USCGC Stone, the patrol vessel of the United States Coast Guard, will do exercises with the Prefecture in April.
This belongs to the orbit of Minister Bullrich, to whom her predecessor, Aníbal Fernández, already left Security Cooperation agreements that paved these exercises.
At the time, Alberto Fernández's first Minister of Security, Sabrina Frederic, created such a stir with the issue of sovereignty against the United States that led to the suspension of any possibility of cooperation in the South Atlantic with this emblematic patrol vessel that navigates the Caribbean and the South Atlantic.
The United States ambassador here, Marc Stanley, also just said on television that President Biden, who is entering the end of this term and is in the race for re-election, could meet with Milei this year.
The diplomat recently resumed his duties after the end of the year break and this Friday he tweeted that he was in Bahía Blanca.
“I am happy to announce that we have made a donation of $50,000 for a humanitarian aid project for the reconstruction of primary schools 36 and 45 in Bahía Blanca.
I hope that this small contribution helps to return a little normality to the children who count on these institutions to ensure their future.”
He was referring to those affected by the end-of-year storm in that city, which devastated several places and left 13 dead.
Stanley then took a tour of the entire city.
I am happy to announce that we have made a donation of $50,000 for a humanitarian aid project for the reconstruction of primary schools 36 and 45 in Bahía Blanca.
I hope this small contribution helps return a little normality to the kids who… pic.twitter.com/HySbDMYTaY
— Ambassador Marc R. Stanley (@USAmbassadorARG) February 2, 2024
What is known about the aircraft carrier
Specialized Defense sites reported in November that USS George Washington set sail that month after six years of refitting.
It had been a longer than expected refueling process, not without tragedies because there were some suicides in the refueling phase by several sailors.
Maintenance and modernization work was carried out on it.
With its repair, the USS George Washington can carry the Boeing Mq-25A Stingray unmanned aircraft, which refuels embarked combat aircraft in flight up to 800 kilometers away from the aircraft carrier.
This is considered “a capability that will make the ship more suitable to operate in the hypothetical scenario of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.”
Built by Newport News Shipbuilding and commissioned on July 4, 1992, in May 2008, while leaving the port of Norfolk (Virginia) for its station in Japan, a fire broke out on board off South America, causing $70 million in damage. of dollars.
It was the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that the United States deployed to Japan from 2008 to 2015.
The mega ship or rather its Navy crew members were the subject of investigation when the media in the United States revealed that the quality of life of the crew while they were in the shipyard was not good.
For example, they reported that between 2017 and April 2022, there were at least nine suicides of sailors on board.
Power outages, lack of hot water and unbearable temperatures were detected.