Remarks by Trump's pick for ambassador spark a political storm in Argentina

Associated Press

4 days ago

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump's choice for ambassador to Buenos Aires sparked a storm Wednesday over his remarks that Argentina's powerful ex-president should face justice in cases in which she was never convicted and his pledges to use his posting as a bulwark against China.
Opposition politicians in Argentina accused Peter Lamelas, Trump's nominee for ambassador to the second-biggest South American country, of violating diplomatic conventions, interfering in Argentine domestic affairs and meddling in judicial matters.
Argentine media went into fifth gear with their coverage of Lamelas. Lawmakers introduced a bill in Congress rejecting his remarks as 'an unacceptable interference in matters of national sovereignty.' Trade unions planned a mass protest for Thursday outside the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires.
The Cuban-born Lamelas, a physician, founder of a chain of urgent care clinics in Florida and longtime Trump donor, would otherwise be stepping into the role at a time when the relationship between Argentina and the United States is at its strongest in recent memory.
The testimony
Lamelas spoke on Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination.
He said he would support Trump's ally, right-wing Argentine President Javier Milei, in ensuring that the country's former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — now serving a six-year sentence on corruption charges under house arrest — gets the 'the justice that she well deserves' in cases unrelated to her current sentence.
He also claimed her house arrest was a result of 'political favoritism,' although it is common practice in Argentina for those convicted over the age of 70.
Fernández, the most prominent figure in Argentina's left-leaning Peronist opposition movement, which holds a majority in Congress, did not mince words when she posted her reaction.
'The only thing he didn't say was that he'd appoint the courts himself,' she said. Referencing scandals roiling the U.S., such including the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, she added: 'They should clean their own house before commenting on ours.'
There was no immediate comment on the hearing from libertarian Milei, elected in 2023 on a wave of public outrage over the failed economic policies of Fernández and other left-leaning populist predecessors.
Milei has repeatedly praised Trump and replicated his policies — including by following the U.S. in pulling Argentina from The World Health Organization — and recently dined and posed for friendly photos with Lamelas at Trump's opulent Mar-a-Lago club.
'LAMELAS GO HOME,' wrote Axel Kicillof, the governor of Buenos Aires, Argentina's most populous province, on X.
'Lamelas' statements evoke the darkest times of United States interference in the democratic life of our region,' he added.
The controversy
Lamelas waded into a controversy Tuesday when remarking on the alleged role of Fernández, Milei's political enemy, in the cover-up to obstruct the investigation into the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
While several people, including a former federal judge and a former head of the intelligence services, have been convicted for helping to stymie the investigation into the attack, Fernández has yet to stand trial on cover-up charges. She denies the allegations.
In his testimony, Lamelas contended that Fernández was 'definitely involved in the cover-up,' without elaborating or saying why he believes this.
As ambassador, he would support 'Milei and the Milei government on all their efforts to get to the bottom' of the bombing and 'make sure that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner receives the justice that she well deserves,' Lamelas said.
Fueling the fire further, he suggested Fernández had something to do with the suspicious 2015 death of Alberto Nisman, the special prosecutor appointed to investigate the bombing.
'God knows if she was involved in (his) death,' Lamelas said.
Fernández has not been formally accused or charged in connection with Nisman's death. An early investigation stated that Nisman committed suicide, but a later report showed that it was a homicide. The case has not been resolved.
Alarm over China
In another part of his testimony, Lamelas expressed concern over China's growing influence in Argentina, citing that the governors of Argentina's 23 provinces had the autonomy to negotiate 'with external forces, with the Chinese or others, to come in and do projects in those particular provinces.'
'That may also lend toward corruption,' he added. 'My role is to get out into the countryside and make sure that we weed out corruption.'
Argentina's provincial governors castigated Lamelas and called on Milei to reject his nomination.
'Stay in your country and solve your (country's) corruption problems,' shot back Gustavo Melella, governor of Argentina's southernmost Tierra del Fuego province. 'No ambassador has the right to lecture us.'
The governor of Argentina's central La Pampa province, Sergio Ziliotto, had a similar response: 'The only ones who can command us are the people of La Pampa.'
Despite U.S. efforts to urge the Milei administration — along with other U.S. allies in Latin America — to move away from China, Argentina's trade with China has increased over the past year.
China's Embassy in Argentina issued a statement apparently directed at Lamelas, though it did not mention him.
'Argentina should not become a stage for the games of major powers,' it said.
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Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report