US Ambassador Peter Lamelas: ‘United States stands shoulder to shoulder with Argentina’

Good evening, everyone. Buenas noches.

President [Javier] Milei, my dear friend, my great friend, many thanks for being here with us tonight. Thank you for joining us. And Karina [Milei], thank you very much for standing alongside your brother. Mr President, my friend Javier, your presence here honours the United States, the Bosch Palace, my family and reflects the strength of the friendship between our two countries.

To our Argentine friends, the American community, the diplomatic corps and our partners in business, culture and investment: thank you from my heart for joining us.

I would also like to thank all the ministers and members of the government. Pablo [Quirno], thank you very much for coming tonight. I also want to thank all the professionals who work at the [US] Embassy [in Argentina], my team here at the Bosch Palace, my great friend the United States Ambassador to Uruguay – who is also a close friend of President [Donald] Trump – Lou Rinaldi, and my beloved wife, Stephanie Lamelas.

Tonight is not simply a celebration – tonight is a defining moment, a unique moment. Throughout this year we are celebrating “Freedom 250,” marking the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, a people decided that freedom was not a distant dream, but a God-given right. Today, we look to the future with the conviction that our greatest chapter has yet to be written.

Now is the time to build a stronger, deeper and bolder relationship between the United States and Argentina.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, a group of men made a historic decision. They had no guarantees. They had no certainty. But they had courage. Courage like President Milei. Courage like the lion! Those men took up a pen, signed their names and declared a simple but powerful idea to the world: We are free!

It marked the birth of the United States and the birth of the American Dream: the belief that a person, no matter where they are born, no matter how much they have, or where they live, can build their own destiny. That dream changed the world. And it changed my life as well.

I always say: "I was born Cuban and became American by the grace of God." I was born in Cuba. When I was four years old, my family faced a choice: accept oppression or risk everything for freedom. We chose freedom. We arrived in the United States aboard a Red Cross ship with nothing, but with faith and hope.

Let me tell you something else. As we were leaving, the Communists formed two lines, and we had to walk between them. They stripped us of our belongings, spat at us and called us worms and traitors to the Revolution. Then we boarded the Red Cross ship.

My father was a pharmacist. He sold everything he owned in Cuba, but came to the United States for an opportunity, because he did not want his children to grow up under communism.

That is what the United States gave us. It gave us an opportunity. An opportunity to study, to work, to build a family, a career, a business, and the life my parents had dreamed of. My parents dreamed that my brothers and I would grow up in a free country. And, thank God, we grew up in the United States.

That is why tonight is so personal for me. A little boy who left Cuba in search of freedom now stands in the Bosch Palace as the United States Ambassador to the Argentine Republic, one of the most beautiful, proud and promising nations in the world.

That is the American Dream. And that dream does not belong only to the United States. That dream belongs here in Argentina as well. It lives here too.

Argentina is a nation of dreamers, hard workers, immigrants and families who crossed oceans believing in something better. It is a nation of talent, resources, culture and passion, with a spirit that never gives up.

I feel at home. I truly feel at home in Argentina.

President Milei, you lead with one fundamental conviction: nations grow and prosper through freedom. They rise when people are trusted, barriers are removed, markets are opened, and property rights, work, investment and the dignity of every citizen are defended.

President Donald Trump sent me here to the Argentine Republic with a clear mission: to advance the relationship between the United States and Argentina, to support this new era of change and transformation and to work alongside President Milei's government to strengthen our alliance.

"America First" does not mean "the United States first" or "the United States alone." Together with our partners, we come with the conviction that when two free nations such as the United States and Argentina work together, anything is possible.

That is why I say tonight: the time is now. Now is the time to believe in Argentina. Now is the time to invest in Argentina. Now is the time to open doors, reach agreements, create jobs and build together. Now, more than ever.

This year, Freedom 250 is not just one evening in Buenos Aires. It is a year-long celebration that we will take across Argentina. We will travel throughout the country. This is cultural diplomacy.

Because the relationship between the United States and Argentina does not belong only to governments. It belongs to the people. It belongs to everyone who believes the future can be better than the past.

President Milei, the United States stands shoulder to shoulder with Argentina as you write this new chapter. Thank you for believing in the friendship between our two countries. Thank you for being my friend and a friend of President Trump. Thank you for believing that dreams can change history. 

Now is the time to celebrate! Long live Argentina! And long live the United States of America! God bless the United States, and God bless Argentina!