After Millei Cuts Firefighting Funds 81%, Argentina Faces Tough Go Fighting Huge Fires In Monoculure Pine Forests

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Since 5 January, more than 36,000 hectares (90,000 acres) of native forests, grasslands, villages and tourist resorts in Patagonia have been ravaged by wildfires, mainly in the southern Argentine province of Chubut, according to the Federal Emergency Agency (AFE). Greenpeace says the affected area exceeds 40,000 hectares. Wildfires are also hitting Chile, with at least 18 people killed this month. Environmental groups and workers blame extreme weather, which scientists link to the climate crisis and cuts to national fire-prevention budgets.

“There was a confluence of many climatic factors,” says Andrés Nápoli, director of the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (Farn). “This year has not had enough snowfall; there are low humidity levels and a high accumulation of combustible elements in the forest” – a reference to monoculture pine plantations, which act as “powder kegs”.

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Last week, Milei – who did not travel to the affected area – posted an AI-generated image of himself shaking hands with firefighters on Instagram, calling them “heroes”. “It’s a little hypocritical and cynical,” says a local firefighter, Hernán Mondino, adding that many of his colleagues have to take on other jobs to make ends meet. According to Hernán Giardini, forests coordinator at Greenpeace, government policy now aligns with Milei’s claims that a human-made climate crisis does not exist. “He defunded the forestry law, which is part of the funds allocated to the provinces for the care of native forests, used by the Patagonian provinces for many related issues, such as wildfires,” he says. “Argentina ranks among the 15 countries that deforest the most worldwide.”

The crisis has ignited unfounded theories and scapegoating, with the government pushing the narrative that a group of Indigenous people in Chile and Argentina, the Mapuches, are to blame. Last week, the national security minister alleged on X that “preliminary evidence suggests that these crimes are linked to terrorist groups calling themselves Mapuche”.

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https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/27/argentina-patagonia-wildfires-javier-milei-mapuche-conspiracy-theories-cuts-climate-crisis-extreme-weather