“This is an agreement involving a foreign army belonging to a country that clearly seeks to increase its hemispheric influence over Latin America.”
On the campaign trail, Argentina’s President Javier Milei made it abundantly clear where his geopolitical loyalties would lie if he won the election. He said he would cancel Argentina’s entry to the BRICS alliance, which he has already done. He would also cool relations with Argentina’s two largest trade partners, Brazil and China, and align the country with the US and Israel instead, which he is the process of doing. Since coming to office three months ago, Milei, who has suggested he may convert to Judaism, has already visited Israel where he wailed at the wall, danced and sang with Israeli settlers as Israeli bombs rained down on Gaza, and unveiled plans to move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem.
The Milei government has also included within its omnibus bill, which failed to pass Congress at first try, a proposal to empower the executive branch to “authorise the entry into the country of troops and equipment of foreign armed forces for the purpose of exercises, training or protocol activities” as well as the deployment of Argentine forces abroad. Until now, such movements have needed the approval of Congress. As I noted at the time, Argentina’s new government, like its counterparts in Peru and Ecuador, is intent on flinging its doors open to US troops (and, in the case of Argentina, other foreign militaries).
The omnibus bill may have fallen at the first hurdle and is now being prepared for another run, but that hasn’t stopped the Milei government from offering the US armed forces a juicy little deal: permission to operate along the Argentine stretch of the Paraná river, the longest navigable waterway in South America — something Washington has been actively seeking for years.
Sold Down the River
Last Wednesday, a low-key meeting took place on a boat in the middle of the Paraná. The participants included Gastón Benvenuto, the comptroller of Argentina’s General Ports Authority (AGP), Mauricio Gonzalez Botto, the secretary of state companies and corporations, US Ambassador to Argentina, Mark Stanley, and Adriel McConnel, a representative of the US Army Corps of Engineers. The outcome of the meeting was a memorandum of understanding allowing the US Army Corps of Engineers to conduct “maintenance duties” along the Paraná-Paraguay river waterway.
From left to right: Marc Stanley, Gastón Benvenuto and Mauricio González Botto
In a platitude-ridden joint statement, the sides said that they had cemented a process of joint collaboration in the exchange of information and management of the waterway:
“Our countries recognize the shared goals of ensuring efficient and transparent waterway port operations amid evolving environmental dynamics, including the realities of climate change and the need for enhanced security measures to combat illicit activities in waterway operations.”
Most importantly, the agreement allows for US military presence along the length and breadth of Argentina’s most important river route, upon which roughly 80% of all its agricultural exports, including grains and oils, travel.
The ostensible justification for the agreement is that the US Army Corps of Engineers already manages the Mississippi river waterway, which shares many characteristics with the Paraná. Both rivers are among the largest navigable waterways on the planet and are key to the transportation of agro-industrial crops. According to Benvenuto, the agreement will make it possible for Argentina to “take advantage of North American technical knowledge” to improve “resource management, dredging and beacon modernization systems, and deepen the training of technical personnel.”
The US military already signed a similar agreement with the Paraguayan government in 2022 granting its Corps of Engineers the right to operate along the Paraguayan stretch of the Paraná. Snaking for 4880 km through four countries (Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay), the Paraná River is the second longest waterway in South America, second only to the Amazon River, and the region’s longest navigable river.
The Casa Rosada says it is still preparing the tender for the agreement while opposition parties are incensed, accusing the government of selling out Argentina’s sovereignty…
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Nick Corbishley 