Argentina's president condemns threat by provincial governor to cut energy supplies in dispute

abcnews.go.com:

The government of Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei has condemned a threat by the governor of the oil-rich province of Chubut to cut off energy supplies to the rest of the country amid a dispute over funding reductions

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The government of Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei on Monday condemned a threat by the governor of the oil-rich province of Chubut to cut off energy supplies to the rest of the country amid a dispute over funding reductions.

"(The threat) is not an attack on the federal government, but on all Argentines,” presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni told reporters Monday.

The squabble started late last week, when the federal government held back the transfer of 13,000 million pesos (around $15 million) in federal tax revenues to the Chubut province.

In response, Chubut Gov. Ignacio Torres — who belongs to Argentina’s main conservative bloc that has backed Milei — said his province would cut off oil and gas supplies on Wednesday if the funds are not disbursed. Torres' position was shared by five other governors in hydrocarbon-producing Patagonia.

While verbal exchanges between Milei and provincial governors have been going on for weeks, this is the first large-scale confrontation, with heads of provinces threatening to cut off energy supplies to the rest of the country.

Adorni said Monday that the government of Milei, an ultra-liberal economist who has applied a series of shock economic policies since assuming power in December, “will not allow any more whims” to provincial leaders.

He also demanded governors to apply the same adjustments at the provincial level made by the federal government and accused them of wanting to “live off the rest of the