Thomas Kelly Address at the American Club
Embassy Information
Speech
CHARGE D’AFFAIRS THOMAS KELLY ADDRESS AT THE AMERICAN CLUB
July 7, 2009
Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gentleman, and Happy Seventh of July! Today, we celebrate two great nations, the Republic of Argentina and The United States of America, on a day that falls at about the midpoint between our two national holidays.
I can’t think of a better place to do it than at the American Club, with our friends from four organizations that are the cornerstone of the American community here and of the bilateral relationship between Argentina and the United States. The American Club of Buenos Aires is a local institution that embodies the longstanding American presence in this country. My colleagues and I are here often, and we use it for many of our most important events, such as our celebration of the U.S. presidential election last November.
I’d also like to salute the American Women’s Club, which helps expat women and their families adjust to their new lives in Argentina; the American Society of the River Plate, the oldest bilateral U.S.-Argentina organization in this country; and Argentine-American Dialogue, which brings Argentines and Americans together to build common understanding. All of you are our friends and partners in bringing Argentina and the United States closer together, and we at the U.S. Embassy value your work very much.
Our new President, Barack Obama, celebrated his first Fourth of July as our commander in chief three days ago. In his address on that sacred day, he said that we are here “to remember not only the day [the United States] was born, but also the indomitable spirit of the first American citizens who made that day possible.” I think it’s worth reflecting a little about what he meant. Two hundred and thirty years – plus three days - ago, an audacious group of patriots in Philadelphia proclaimed that all men are equal and endowed with unalienable rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Their dedication to those principles prompted them to make this proclamation -- at great personal risk. Their statement became the cornerstone of U.S. independence, and it inspired subjected people around the world.
Some decades later, a courageous group of Argentine leaders, inspired by the Enlightenment and the ideals contained within Thomas Jefferson’s masterpiece, the Declaration of Independence, gathered in Tucuman on July 9, 1816 to forge a path towards Argentine self-determination. The names of the patriots who were present – Paso, Laprida, Boedo, Pueyrredon, Godoy Cruz – are as sacred for Argentines as Adams, Paine, Jefferson, Franklin, and John Hancock are for us Americans.
As our two young nations developed, the similarities continued. Both countries fought valiant and ultimately successful wars of independence; both created a Constitution based on representative government, human rights, separation of powers, and federalism; both survived tragic civil wars fought over fundamental constitutional matters; both welcomed wave after wave of immigrants who found freedom and built great cities and strong economies in their new lands; and both developed a nationwide system of public education as the backbone of inclusive democracies.
Finally and above all, United States and Argentina share an enduring commitment to liberty and democracy. We fought for these ideals in difficult times, and we built them in better times. For we must remember, democracy, always and everywhere, is a work in progress requiring constant nurturing and protection. In the past year, both our countries have held free and fair elections in which our citizens exercised their rights to consider diverse views, to debate the issues, and to vote as they wished. In the U.S. elections, the result was historic... the election of Barack Obama as our first African American President. At a time when a fellow American republic is threatened by a military coup, the United States and Argentina stand together in our support of democracy and human rights – or as President Obama put it in a recent letter, we are both “democracies dedicated to the defense of human rights and fundamental freedoms, with a shared responsibility to promote these values throughout the region and the world.”
As we share the same ideals, it’s only natural that our two nations work together closely and well. Argentina and the United States work together on an array of issues that range from peacekeeping, social justice and renewable energy to fighting drug trafficking, scientific cooperation, and non-proliferation. Argentina and the United States work together on the most important multilateral fora in the world, including the G-20 discussion on combating the global financial crisis and last April’s Summit of the Americas.
But the bilateral relationship is much more than the good partnership between our governments. It is the 500-plus US companies with investments in Argentina, employing 155,00 Argentines; it is the 400,000 Americans and 300,000 Argentines who visited each other’s country last year; it is the $13-billion-dollar bilateral trade relationship between our two economies; and it is the thousands of young Argentines and Americans who study in each other’s country.
At the U.S. Embassy, we believe that the future of the bilateral relationship is in bringing more and more individual Argentines and Americans together. We believe that the more Argentines know about the U.S., the better their image of us is. When we are at our best, the United States represents a set of universal values and ideals -- the idea of democratic practices, the idea of freedom of speech and religion, the idea of a civil society where people are free to pursue their dreams and not be imposed upon constantly by their government.
In this effort, personal contact is crucial. That’s why, at the Embassy, we emphasize exchanges and community outreach. We have initiated a program to get our colleagues from the Embassy out talking to professional and civil society groups, and we encourage visitors from the U.S. to do the same. We have a Community Action Plan with schools, and other initiatives that get Embassy employees, representatives of U.S. companies, and other U.S. citizens into Argentine communities. I hope that all of you, with your ties and contacts in the Argentine community, can help to guide us to do a better job as we try to explain our society to our Argentine friends.
All of us have experience celebrating our independence day outside of our country. I’ve spent Fourth of Julys in Costa Rica, Paris, Lithuania, El Salvador, Santiago, Quito, and now in Buenos Aires. We may miss the fireworks and hot dogs, but the underlying reason for the celebration, the remembrance of our national commitment to freedom, is something that we can appreciate no matter where we are. William Faulkner wrote that “we must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.” As we remember the independence days of two great nations, let us all do our part to practice freedom. It’s what John Hancock and Juan Martin de Pueyrredon would have wanted.
Happy Fourth of July; Happy Seventh of July; and Happy Ninth of July.
Thank you very much.