- A Buenos Aires minister said the state could become independent
- Transport minister Jorge D’Onofrio said the region could survive on its own
- He also feuded with right-wing libertarian president Javier Milei
An Argentine regional minister has sparked controversy by claiming his region could become independent, raising fears that it may become a new Falklands.
Jorge D’Onofrio, transport minister for the Buenos Aires province led by the left-wing Peronist administration, said that if the region was its own country it would have the ‘biggest GDP in Latin America.’
D’Onofrio, 61, also feuded with Argentina’s president, right-wing libertarian Javier Milei, describing his policies as ‘madness’ and accusing him of destroying the nation.
D’Onofrio said in an interview with Radio Splendid: ‘I could be proposing today as a leader of Buenos Aires that we go to a constitutional reform to see if we get out of the national state.’
He added: ‘If the province of Buenos Aires were a state today, it would have the richest GDP in Latin America.’
He was quick to add that while he did not think independence was the proper way forward, he said a serious debate over the role the region has needed to happen.
Jorge D’Onofrio (pictured) said: ‘I could be proposing today as a leader of Buenos Aires that we go to a constitutional reform to see if we get out of the national state’
The Buenos Aires region, which excludes the capital city, is home to nearly 40% of Argentina’s population (File image)
Argentina vowed to gain ‘full sovereignty’ of the Falkland Islands (File image)
‘We produce 45% of Argentina’s wealth and we collect 22% of revenue sharing, subsidising the inefficiency of the rest of the national state and the provinces.’
The Buenos Aires region, which excludes the capital city, is home to nearly 40% of Argentina’s population.
Its largest city, La Plata, is home to nearly a million people, and it is one of the five regions still governed by Peronists, who lost the election to Millei nearly a year ago.
It comes as Argentina vowed to gain ‘full sovereignty’ of the Falkland Islands following the UK’s decision to give up control of Mauritius’ Chagos Islands.
Argentina’s foreign minister, Diana Mondino, promised ‘concrete action’ to ensure that the Falklands, which has long been at the centre of a territorial dispute with the UK, would come back into her country’s control.
Mondino said: ‘The long dispute between Britain and Mauritius came to a conclusion today, with Mauritians successfully regaining their territory of Chagos.
‘We welcome this step in the right direction and the end to outdated practices. Following the path we have already taken, with concrete actions and not empty rhetoric, we will recover full sovereignty over our Malvinas Islands.
‘The Malvinas were, are and will always be Argentine.’
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
