Alberto Fernández spoke nationally from Antarctica: “It is time to consider the utopia chain of equality”

President Alberto Fernandez visits the Marambio Base in Antarctica this Wednesday, February 22, and thus becomes the fourth Argentine president to set foot on the white continent. From there he gave a speech on the national chain, in which they highlighted the 119 years of permanent and uninterrupted presence of Argentina in the Antarctic continent and the scientific work that contributes to the country’s progress.

“Only four presidents have visited Antarctica, and I am the first to do so in more than 20 years, and for this reason, I confess, I am filled with deep emotion,” the President said of his trip, stressing that “here, at the end of the of the world, one can assume the dimension of the Fatherland”.

On Argentina’s Antarctic Day, he thanked the workers at the Marambio Base and the other 12 bases, as well as those who work “in Antarctic camps and refuges and on ships involved in the Antarctic Campaign.”

“This year, we Argentines celebrate forty years of uninterrupted democracy. In the years of the dictatorship, we believed that a strong democracy was only a utopia that wandered among our dreams,” said the head of state. And he added: “Now that that utopia has become a reality, it is time to consider another utopia: the utopia of equality,” he said.

“When I invite you to accompany me to make that utopia a reality, I am also inviting you to promote territorial equality throughout the country. I invite you to give strength to our forgotten north. I invite you to strengthen our productive center,” he listed. I invite you to think of Antarctica, the southern islands and the enormous sea that surrounds it as a source of wealth that exists but is still unexplored.”

Fernández highlighted that the Argentine presence in Antarctica began in 1902 and “was never interrupted”, and mentioned the role of Juan Domingo Perón. “The First Scientific Expedition to the Argentine Continental Antarctic designated to create a permanent base departed on February 12, 1951 from Buenos Aires, that day the then president Juan Domingo Perón together with Eva Duarte said goodbye to the expedition members who were going to create the Antarctic Institute “, he said about the first scientific institution worldwide dedicated exclusively to Antarctic research.

“Perón knew that science is sovereignty. There is no possible development without scientific-technological production. Antarctica is a scientific research center of great importance for humanity and for our country. The growth of our Argentina has a focus towards the South and vision bicontinental and part of national development depends on the defense of its strategic components”, he stated.

The national president maintained that “each advance contributes to the scientific and technological development of Argentina as a whole.” “Each progress helps us to know more and better our resources, especially in a key area for regional and world peace such as the South Atlantic.”

About the end, Fernández stressed that “Argentina is seen by the world as the symbol of everything we can achieve together.” “That’s why from the end of the world, I come to speak to you about new beginnings, about principles. A tomorrow of peace and prosperity begins, united what we are making possible,” he said.

Alberto Fernández’s announcements about Antarctica

“As part of the Build Science Program, we are finalizing the installation of new Multidisciplinary Antarctic Laboratories. It is the first time in decades that a step of this magnitude has been taken. We are going to maintain the existing laboratories and promote the creation of more multidisciplinary Antarctic laboratories. Let’s go to preserve the 13 bases and guarantee the continuity of the summer campaigns”, announced the head of state.

He also said that work is being done on the renovation of the Petrel Base, burned down in 1979. “It will be a sustainable station supported by alternative energies, suitable for landing logistics and a port.”

The Government will also create a headquarters for the National Library, and an itinerant Antarctic correspondent for the Télam Agency, “because it is important to Argentina to know the news from our Antarctica,” said the President, who had previously also referred to the issue when pointing out that “our south hardly appears in traveler’s diaries or in the stories of pioneers or naturalists.”

Alberto Fernández is the fourth president in history to travel to Antarctica

Fernández left the Fuegian city of Ushuaia for the Argentine scientific station in Antarctica, which has been operating there since 1969. As part of his visit, the head of state put into operation the first own building of the National University of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands.

Although the trip was originally scheduled for May 25, 2022, bad weather conditions on that day prevented the departure. Now, the visit coincides with Sovereignty Day in Argentine Antarctica: this date commemorates the first raising of the Argentine flag on Laurie Island in the Orcadas del Sur archipelago, north of the Argentine Antarctic Sector.

In this way, Fernández missed out on the four Argentine presidents to visit Antarctica, as did Arturo Frondizi, Raúl Lastiri and Carlos Menem.

Traveling with the President will be the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Santiago Cafiero: of Science, Technology and Innovation, Daniel Filmus; Defense, Jorge Taiana; and from Social Development, Victoria Tolosa Paz; as well as the secretary of Malvinas, Antarctica and South Atlantic, Guillermo Carmona.

“We are going to Antarctica together with President Alberto Fernández to promote research that allows us to preserve the environment. With this objective we are finishing three new laboratories, built together with the Ministry of Defense and financed by the Ministry of Science,” said Filmus.

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