The government of Chubut denounced that Javier Milei
's management
illegally withheld $13.5 billion and issued an ultimatum to the Minister of Economy,
Luis Caputo
: "If the Ministry of Economy does not deliver Chubut its resources, then
Chubut will not deliver its oil and gas
".
Governor
Ignacio Torres
, from Together for Change, received the support of the rest of the Patagonian governors.
"In February the Ministry of Economy of the Nation illegally withheld $13.5 billion from him; more than a third of his monthly contribution," they say in the text that bears the signature of Ignacio Torres, but also of the Peronists Gustavo
Melella
(Tierra del Fuego) and
Sergio Ziliotto
(La Pampa);
and the rest of the governors of the region:
Claudio Vidal
(Santa Cruz);
Rolando Figueroa
(Neuquén);
and
Alberto Weretilneck
(Río Negro).
This week, Torres received a favorable ruling for the Nation's reduction of transportation subsidies.
The federal Justice ruled in favor of Torres, governor of Chubut, and urged the national government to refrain from cutting or removing transportation subsidies in the provinces.
The Chubut government does not explain why the Nation stepped on the funds.
They emphasize that before the favorable ruling came out, the Ministry of Economy had already cut off the sending of funds.
"An attempt was made through institutional means to send what is required by law and there was no case," they assured
Clarín
.
It is not the first warning from the Patagonian provinces to the Government about natural resources.
At the end of January, the vice-governor of Río Negro, Pedro Pesatti, reacted when Javier Milei's statements became known in a cabinet meeting revealed by
Clarín
.
"I'm going to leave them penniless, I'm going to melt them all down," said the President.
THE UNITED PROVINCES OF THE SOUTH
The provinces are pre-existing to the Nation and deserve respect.
No one can subjugate them or extort them with threats of restriction of public funds that belong to them by right.
In February the national government illegally detained us… pic.twitter.com/Qq2mJcW3W8
— Nacho Torres (@NachoTorresCH) February 23, 2024
At that time, Pesatti responded along the same lines as Chubut now threatens: "If the President of the Nation threatens to leave the provinces without the fiscal resources that correspond to them, the provinces, like the Patagonian ones, could leave the national government without oil, without gas and without hydroelectric energy".
That same day, the Rio Negro governor, Weretilneck, also responded: "In Patagonia we produce more than 90% of the country's gas and oil. We generate more than 25% of the electrical energy that makes Argentina work. We have in our provinces the best tourist centers that generate foreign currency. We have agriculture, livestock and fishing," listed the Patagonian governor.
The complete statement from the six governors of Patagonia to the Government
The provinces are pre-existing to the Nation and deserve respect. No one can subjugate them or extort them with threats of restriction of public funds that belong to them by right.
Governors are not employees of the National Executive Branch nor are they subject to orders. Their mandates arise from the people of their provinces and they have the obligation to defend their interests.
Today the province of Chubut is suffering from the retaliation that was announced after the treatment of the Omnibus Law fell.
In February the Ministry of Economy of the Nation illegally withheld $13.5 billion; more than a third of his monthly contribution.
It is not a revenge against the governor of Chubut. It is an impact on more than 600 thousand Chubut residents who in this way see their right to education, health, security and development affected.
Also illegally, the national government withheld funds destined for the Compensation Fund for public transportation fares. They are resources from the fuel tax and have a specific allocation. Only a law could provide for another destiny and yet they were retained.
For that reason, the federal justice system, at the request of an action promoted by the government of Chubut, decreed the illegality of the strike. It is not about a war but about protecting transportation users who have the same rights as the inhabitants of AMBA.
That court ruling also explains the retaliation of depriving Chubut of its rights.
We categorically repudiate the attack that the national government is making on a sister province and we stand in solidarity with Governor Ignacio Torres and the people of Chubut.
We do not accept patterns of stay or the unitarism of those who believe they will be able to trample on the provinces.
For that reason we endorse the determination of the province of Chubut to fully exercise its rights as the owner of its hydrocarbon resources and respond with forceful actions in the event that the Minister of Economy of the Nation persists in withholding from the province the funds that by right They belong to you.
If the Ministry of Economy does not deliver its resources to Chubut, then Chubut will not deliver its oil and gas.
Taking away more than a third of its share from a province is a criminal action that pursues the deliberate objective of making its inhabitants suffer in order to force its government to adopt certain political decisions.
It is an extensive and dissolving measure of the federal system. No governor is going to consent or allow it because the very existence of the Argentine Republic is at stake.
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