Retired General Edgar Calandín, former commander of Argentina's Joint Antarctic Command between 2020 and 2024, said his country "has the tool to go ahead and eliminate Puerto Williams: shut off the gas." He made the remarks in an interview with La Fábrica del Podcast on its El Tablero program.
According to BioBioChile, the former military officer criticized Argentina's Antarctic strategy and compared it with Chile's. In his view, Chile does have the "political will" to develop an international Antarctic city.
Calandín argued that Ushuaia, the capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province, must be a "custodian city" for the Antarctic sector his country claims, and not just a gateway. "Ushuaia is closer to Antarctica than to Buenos Aires," he said, placing the white continent some 1,000 kilometers away.
The retired general acknowledged that Chile is moving faster. "Today, Argentina's Antarctic policy does not promote the development of an international Antarctic city that would allow us to bring in the 58 countries that make up the treaty," he said, referring to the Antarctic Treaty. He added that Chile is working toward that goal with Punta Arenas and Puerto Williams "at a faster pace and with greater efficiency."
Even so, he insisted that Ushuaia's location and resources are "ten times" better than those of Punta Arenas. Then came his most controversial remark: he called it "incredible" that Argentina supplies gas to Puerto Williams and said he would do so in exchange for "substantial benefits in other resources and capacity."
Puerto Williams, the capital of Chile's Antártica Chilena province in the Magallanes region, is on Navarino Island, opposite Ushuaia across the Beagle Channel. Chile is promoting it as a gateway to Antarctica alongside Punta Arenas. None of the sources reports whether the Chilean government responded to Calandín's remarks.
The former military officer also blamed Argentina's political class. He accused the country's leaders of limiting strategic opportunities to their four-year terms and electoral cycles. "Then the strategy comes to nothing," he said.
The remarks come at a tense moment between the two countries. BioBioChile recalled that relations deteriorated over the new trade route Chile will open with the Falkland Islands, amid Buenos Aires' complaint against the United Kingdom over oil extraction in the archipelago.
In that dispute, Argentine deputies led by former Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero requested that Chile's ambassador to Argentina, Gonzalo Uriarte, be summoned to explain whether the service operated by Easter Island Naviera will supply British oil projects.
For Chile, the remarks matter on two counts. Calandín expressed a personal opinion and was not speaking as an official spokesman, but he exposed a specific vulnerability: Puerto Williams' energy dependence on Argentine gas, in an area where both countries compete to extend their reach toward Antarctica.
