By Héctor Bernardo*
The Milei government seeks to modify current regulations to deepen its alignment with the United States, allow for the expansion of extractive industries, and consolidate the re-primarization of the economy. The project aims to attract investment and secure rapid access to foreign currency, enabling the government to show signs of recovery within the context of a collapsing economy.
Javier Milei’s government will seek to have the Chamber of Deputies complete approval of the reform of the “Glaciers Law”, which would happen during the second week of April.
On February 26, the reform proposed by the national Executive obtained half approval when it was approved by the Senate (with 40 votes in favor, 31 against and one abstention) and now the approval of the lower house is needed.
What do we want to change?
The Minimum Budget Law for the Preservation of Glaciers and the Periglacial Environment (Law 26.639), known as the “National Glacier Law,” was passed in 2010 during the administration of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The legislation was promoted by then-Congressman Miguel Bonasso and Senator Daniel Filmus.
Its first article states that “This law establishes the minimum standards for the protection of glaciers and the periglacial environment in order to preserve them as strategic reserves of water resources for human consumption; for agriculture and as providers of water for the recharge of river basins; for the protection of biodiversity; as a source of scientific information and as a tourist attraction. Glaciers constitute public assets.”
Periglacial environment in high mountains refers to the area with frozen soils that acts as a regulator of water resources. In mid and low mountains, it refers to the area that functions as a regulator of water resources with ice-saturated soils.”
Article 3 creates “the National Glacier Inventory” responsible for identifying “all glaciers and periglacial landforms that act as water reserves existing in the national territory with all the information necessary for their adequate protection, control and monitoring.”
While in section C of article 10 it is clarified that it is necessary to “Coordinate the realization and updating of the National Glacier Inventory, through the Argentine Institute of Snow Science, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences (IANIGLA).”
The Milei government seeks to modify key points of the law and allow the implementation of extractive projects in glacial and periglacial zones. With the changes to the regulations, IANIGLA will no longer be the entity that defines which areas are periglacial and glacial; this power will be transferred to provincial agencies.
Those opposed to the regulatory changes argue that mining projects in these areas could affect river basins that flow through more than one province —a threat to a strategic resource essential for life and agricultural development.
The project presented by the Executive has the support of seven provincial governments (Mendoza, San Juan, Chaco, Entre Ríos, Tucumán, Catamarca, Salta) and the City of Buenos Aires.
Dictated from outside
In statements to Radio AM 750, former senator Daniel Filmus asserted: “The Glaciers Law protects Argentina’s most important water reserves, which are receding due to global warming. Not only human life depends on it, but also production.”
Filmus recalled the lobbying efforts by the mining company Barrick Gold to have the 2010 law declared unconstitutional and asserted: “Today they want to take everything from Argentina, and the government is giving in. They are not only developing unsustainable mining practices, but they are doing so at the expense of water resources, while glaciers are receding everywhere due to global warming, which this government claims does not exist.”
According to the newspaper Página/12, behind the construction of the new project are multinational mining companies such as Glencore, Rio Tinto, Lundin and BHP, all of them linked to the US-based investment fund Blackrock .
Alignment is difficult
In line with its international alignment with Washington’s interests, the Milei government is advancing a process of re-primarization of the economy. This project has two facets. One is the destruction of national industry, accompanied by the defunding of technical schools and universities (a country without industry or scientific development has no need for technicians or researchers). The other is to shift the productive matrix towards agriculture and livestock, mining, and hydrocarbons.
In that sense, the destruction of Argentina’s productive apparatus is nothing other than part of the project of making the economy primarily based on primary production.
According to official data from the Superintendency of Occupational Risks (SRT), from the time Javier Milei took office in December 2023 until March 2026, more than 22,600 companies were closed (an average of 30 companies closed per day), resulting in the loss of approximately 290,000 jobs.
Loss of sovereignty
The Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), approved on June 28, 2024, establishes a framework that allows mining companies, in the event of a conflict with the State (national or provincial), to avoid local courts and instead resort to international arbitration through entities such as the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), based in Washington. Furthermore, the RIGI grants these companies tax exemptions and facilitates capital flight.
The “Joint Declaration on the Framework for a U.S.-Argentina Agreement on Reciprocal Trade and Investment,” published by the White House on November 13, 2025, clearly shows the place the Trump administration and the Milei government give to Argentina within the international division of labor.
While the White House will lower tariffs on primary goods (key natural resources for the development of its industrial power and which require little added value from the country of origin), Argentina will facilitate the import of manufactured products (with high added value) and technology.
In other words, while the United States will buy primary products such as minerals and rare earths, Argentina must become a market that acquires North American industrial and technological development.
Divide and conquer
The fragmentation of Argentina’s water sovereignty, which is left in the hands of each of the provincial governments, favors the lobbying power of mining companies and of the US ambassador to Argentina himself, Peter Lamelas, who promised to travel province by province to defend US interests against “Chinese interference”.
In addition, on February 4, 2026, the Ministerial Meeting on Critical Minerals (called the Rare Earth Summit) was held in Washington, led by the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina, Pablo Quirno.
At that meeting, Argentina joined the agreement known as the “Framework Instrument for Strengthening Supply in Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals,” by which the signatory countries commit to collaborate in the supply chain of strategic minerals (such as lithium, key to North American industrial and technological development) and promote North American investments.
The passage of laws that jeopardize strategic and vital resources, regulations that subject the country to international arbitrariness, the destruction of Argentina’s industrial base, and the shift towards a primary-sector economy are not isolated actions. Each and every one of them forms part of a project of unconditional subordination to Washington’s interests.
Héctor Bernardo* – Journalist, writer, and professor of Introduction to Contemporary Social and Political Thought – Faculty of Journalism and Social Communication – UNLP. Member of the PIA Global team.
Previously published in spanish on PIA Global here. Translation by UWI with IA support.