{"id":115155,"date":"2026-04-15T23:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T17:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/?p=115155"},"modified":"2026-04-15T23:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T17:54:09","slug":"argentine-navy-naval-hydrography-chiefs-the-mouth-of-magellan-is-argentine-sparks-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/?p=115155","title":{"rendered":"Argentine Navy Naval Hydrography Chief\u2019s The mouth Of Magellan Is Argentine Sparks Controversy."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Buenos Aires; April 2026<\/strong>: Rear Admiral Hern\u00e1n Jorge Montero, head of the Argentine Navy’s Hydrographic Service, has stated in a recent interview that the eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan is under Argentine sovereignty, despite current bilateral treaties stating otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rear Admiral Montero, who has assumed the position in February 2024 and will continue to lead the agency in 2026, made these statements during a conversation on January 25, 2026, with the YouTube channel \u201cOidmortalesmza\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n

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When asked about the transoceanic passages (including the Panama Canal, the Strait of Magellan, and the Drake Passage), the naval officer had stated: \u201cWhile Magellan is an international waterway, it is within Chilean maritime territory. They must keep it open, and navigation cannot be interrupted, but it is Chilean, except for the mouth. The mouth of the Strait of Magellan is Argentine. The section that connects Cape Virgenes with Punta Dungeness, from there eastward, is Argentine\u201d. These statements are surprising, as they omit key references to the legal instruments that regulate sovereignty in the southern region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed between Argentina and Chile in 1984 explicitly resolves this delimitation in Article 10. It establishes that, in the eastern part of the Strait of Magellan, defined by Punta Dungeness to the north and Cabo del Esp\u00edritu Santo to the south, the boundary between the two sovereign territories will be the straight line connecting the \u201cDungeness Beacon Marker\u201d and \u201cCape Esp\u00edritu Santo Marker 1\u201d in Tierra del Fuego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This line is depicted in Chart No. II annexed to the treaty, published in the Chilean Official Gazette on May 14, 1985 (pages 12-13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same article reinforces the provisions of the 1881 Treaty of Limits, which neutralises the Strait of Magellan in perpetuity and guarantees free navigation for ships of all flags. Furthermore, Argentina undertakes to maintain unobstructed transit to and from the Strait through its territorial waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rear Admiral Montero’s assertion is unsupported by cartographic and legal evidence. There is no “eastern mouth” of the Strait of Magellan in Argentine territory. The Strait, in its entirety, remains under Chilean sovereignty in full and perpetual, as confirmed by both the 1881 and 1984 treaties and official maps. The Chilean position, recently reaffirming its sovereignty and limits of the eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few weeks ago, Chile’s Minister of National Defense, Fernando Barros Tocornal, was emphatic when addressing the issue. In an interview with Radio Duna in late March 2026, the Secretary of State reiterated that “the treaties we have are crystal clear”, Barros added: “The line drawn at the eastern mouth is the official boundary, and from there eastward it is no longer the Strait of Magellan, but the Atlantic Ocean”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This statement comes amid the debate generated by Argentine Decree 457\/2021, which still causes concern in Santiago despite good bilateral relations and progress in military cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chile has reinforced its presence in the area following the border incident in June 2024 at Border Marker 1 (Esp\u00edritu Santo Lighthouse), where Argentine personnel temporarily installed solar panels on Chilean territory. The incident was resolved quickly through diplomatic and military coordination, but it prompted Chilean authorities to update the border marker’s mapping using drone technology, thus strengthening the technical documentation available to the Directorate of Borders and Boundaries (DIFROL) for future operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the broader geopolitical context, the Strait of Magellan continues to gain strategic importance. In August 2025, during the South American Defense Conference (SOUTHDEC 25) held in Buenos Aires, Admiral Alvin Holsey, commander of the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), emphasized the importance of the Strait of Magellan and the Drake Passage in his address and warned of potential attempts at Chinese influence in the area through dual-use infrastructure projects. The Chilean delegation reaffirmed on that occasion Chile’s full sovereign control over this key maritime route for global trade and Antarctic access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chilean Navy maintains regular patrols and modernizes its infrastructure in Punta Arenas to guarantee freedom of navigation and neutrality of the passage, as established by international agreements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although relations between the ships of both countries are generally smooth in operational and rescue matters in the South Atlantic and the Drake Passage, interpretations such as that expressed by Rear Admiral Montero reopen concerns about possible divergent readings of the treaties. Chilean sources consulted insist that international law and the cartography annexed to the 1984 Treaty admit no ambiguities: sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan is Chilean from end to end, and its eastern mouth is limited to Chilean sovereign maritime territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team Maverick<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buenos Aires; April 2026: Rear Admiral Hern\u00e1n Jorge Montero, head of the Argentine Navy’s Hydrographic Service, has stated in a recent interview that the eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan is under Argentine sovereignty, despite current bilateral treaties stating otherwise. Rear Admiral Montero, who has assumed the position in February 2024 and will continue …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":115156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[81],"post_format":[],"flags":[],"class_list":["post-115155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115159,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115155\/revisions\/115159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/115156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115155"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_format&post=115155"},{"taxonomy":"flags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fflags&post=115155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}