Today, Defense Minister Luis Alfonso Petri submitted the formal request. He said on X: "I met with Deputy Secretary General of NATO Geoana. I transmitted a letter of intent to him, which contains a request from Argentina to become a global partner of this organisation.”
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“Argentina plays an important role in Latin America, and I welcome today’s request to explore becoming a NATO partner. NATO works with a range of countries around the world to promote peace and stability. Closer political and practical cooperation could benefit us both.”
How would this even work? NATO is a treaty for collective defence against an attack on a member's territory 'in Europe or North America'. Argentina isn't in Europe or North America, so presumably wouldn't get the Article 5 protection that is the cornerstone of collective defence - unless the treaty was amended to also cover members' territory in South America?
(Sidenote: to the best of my knowledge, since NATO was established only one country has attacked the territory of a NATO member in South America... 🤔)
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