The appointment of the new American ambassador to Argentina, Peter Lamelasit has not yet been formalized, but already caused a political tremor in the country. With a speech before the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate Cristina Fernández de Kirchnercelebrated the management of Javier Milei And – what ignited the alarms inside – warned about the role he intends to play in the Argentine provinces to stop Chinese expansion.
The reaction soon arrived. The governors Ricardo Quintela (La Rioja) and Gustavo Melella (Tierra del Fuego) They went to the intersection with a blunt message: they will not allow a foreign official to intervene in local decisions or that the national government passively validates that interference. With this, they deepened a confrontation with Milei that has been for months and that, now, adds a new chapter marked by the geopolitical dispute, federalism and sovereignty.
CFK attacks and warning about China
Peter Lamelas did not hide his alignment with the libertarian ruling. In his speech before the American Senate, he supported “Javier Milei’s efforts to clarify the attack on AMIA” and praised his leadership: “We must continue to support Milei’s presidency during the mid -mandate elections and during the next mandate, to be able to build a better relationship between our two countries.”
The diplomat also hardly charged Cristina Kirchner, whom he accused of having been “convicted of two courts” for fraud and avoiding jail for his political weight:
“If it weren’t politics, I would be in prison. It is under house arrest due to a certain favoritism that exists there,” he said.
He even hinted that the former president could have had responsibility in covering up the AMIA attack and in the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman. “It was not involved in the bombing, which we know, but definitely in its cover -up. And God knows if he was in Nisman’s death.”
But the most delicate aspect of his statements was his vision of Argentine provinces as potential foci of strategic conflict with China.
“Each of the 23 provinces has its own independent government and could negotiate with external forces, such as the Chinese, to carry out projects. This could lead to corruption.”
Within that framework, Lamelas made it clear that his role as an ambassador will not be limited to the link with the National Executive, but that will seek to directly influence the governorsthrough provincial bilateral tours and links. “I will travel to all the provinces and establish a true collaboration with regional governments,” he anticipated.
Quintela, the first voice between governors
The governor of La Rioja was the first to react hard before what he considered an escalation in the assignment of sovereignty. In his X account, Ricardo Quintela denounced that “attacks against freedom and sovereignty” advance with the endorsement of the national government and expressed their rejection of diplomatic interference in internal affairs:
“It is unacceptable that a foreign ambassador intends to mediate in internal issues of a country that is nothing more than a temporary visitor,” he wrote.
Quintela not only pointed against Lamelas, but directly against Milei, accusing him of ignoring the provincial autonomies established by the Constitution. “Like the president and his entourage, he does not know the National Constitution and the autonomies that she establishes for each province.” And he completed with a warning that resonated throughout the federal political arch: “Neither in La Rioja, nor anywhere on the Argentine soil, we will allow a foreigner, the United States or wherever, he intends to decide for our future and that of our resources.”
The phrase was not accidental. La Rioja is a key province on the new board of strategic resources, with lithium and copper deposits that arouse interest of powers such as China, with whom it has maintained trade agreements for years.
MELELLA: “We don’t discipline anyone”
Hours later, the governor of Tierra del Fuego, Gustavo Melella, added his voice in defense of provincial autonomy and in rejection of the onslaught of Lamelas. In a series of geopolitical tension tweets, Melella directly alluded to the US diplomat:
“In Tierra del Fuego we do not let ourselves be disciplined by anyone and decided with autonomy. Faced with the statements of Ambassador Peter Lamelas, we cannot remain silent.”
The province that governs has a key symbolic and geostrategic weight: not only includes the Falkland Islands, Antarctica and the South Atlantic, but historically has been the scene of tensions between Argentina and the United Kingdom. Therefore, Melella was blunt: “Lord Lamelas, stay in your country to solve your corruption problems. It ceases to be a partner of the British usurpers. Argentina and our province do not need you or your interventionist claims.”
Governor Fueguino also claimed the right of his province to decide which actors receives and with whom he establishes links:
“With the legitimacy granted by the will of the Fueguino people and the mandate of the Constitution, we decided who to receive and with whom to dialogue. We do not admit external pressures or conditioning.”
A conflict that exposes two country models
What began as a diplomatic confirmation hearing ended up unleashing a new conflict front between The National Government and the Provinces. Basically, the crossing is not reduced to a matter of diplomatic forms: it puts into play two country visions.
On the one hand, Milei’s modelwhich promotes a foreign policy aligned without nuances with the United States, the privatization of strategic resources and a concentrated presidential power that seeks to discipline the governors. On the other, the defense of federalism and territorial sovereigntyembodied in governors such as Quintela and Melella, who refuse to subordinate their economic and political agendas to the directives of the national executive or foreign interests.
The truth is that The diplomatic onslaught and the response of the governors open a conflict that exceeds the symbolic. This is the control over resources, strategic decisions and the voice of the provinces in a country that, constitutionally, is federal, but more and more lives as if it were not.
By rn
