Washington Uneasy after Argentine Refusal to Allow U.S. Coast Guard Vessel to Dock

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Joe Biden’s newly inaugurated government has already experienced its second annoyance with the Argentine government in its early days in office.

The first instance was a tweet in which the Foreign Ministry celebrated the inauguration of the Democratic president with a warning (“Argentina also hopes that there will be no attempt to break the unity of our nations as in the previous administration”), thus breaching the most basic diplomatic rules.

The second occurred this weekend, when it was confirmed that U.S. Coast Guard vessel USCG Cutter Stone will ultimately not dock in any Argentine port during its first trip to the Southern Cone with the goal of strengthening regional maritime cooperation to fight illegal fishing in the South Atlantic waters.

“A thorough assessment of conditions identified logistical challenges that prevent the ship from docking in the Mar del Plata port”, reported the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires last Friday, reversing plans announced last December, as part of a trip that included stopovers in Brazil, Uruguay and Guyana.

But behind this brief official statement, according to sources in Washington, there is discomfort in the Pentagon – which has already been reported to other key agencies in the U.S. capital – over the limited willingness shown by the Argentine government to allow the mission to be carried out.

USCG Cutter Stone is the most modern and largest U.S. Coast Guard ship and this was its first mission to southern seas to assist in an issue of great concern to the region’s countries, such as the advance of illegal fishing in their waters by fleets from several countries, particularly China.

Within the scope of routine cooperation on national security issues, the U.S. authorities arranged for the ship’s stopovers in the various countries, which involves facilitating procedures, exchanging data and other standard forms of cooperation.

But from the outset, this was not the case with the Argentine Foreign Ministry, according to Washington sources. The San Martin Palace stalled its reply, awaited in the U.S. capital before the mission’s departure, and finally signaled that the Mar del Plata port could be used. Promptly, the United States advised that, due to its historical dredging issues, the Mar del Plata port lacked adequate depth for a ship the size of the USCG Cutter Stone to dock. Therefore, they asked to dock in the Buenos Aires port.

However, the reply was negative in Buenos Aires and it was insisted that the only option would be Mar del Plata, where they knew it would be impossible. The stopover had to be aborted and the mission’s last South American port of call was Montevideo.

In Washington, the discourtesy was perceived as a “major offense”, as confirmed by sources. “It seemed like a concession aimed at pleasing their usual allies and the hardest sectors of Kirchnerism, as if there was concern over showing a picture of a ship with the U.S. flag docking in a port a few blocks away from the Casa Rosada.”

Within the new Democratic administration it is difficult to understand how the Fernández government, on the one hand, asks the White House for cooperation in its negotiations with the IMF and for a personal meeting with the new president, while on the other hand sending these hostile messages.

Source: Infobae