U.S. ambassador to Argentina declines to appear at committee hearing on Huawei allegations

Lamelas confirms WhatsApp messages on visa policy reflect U.S. position

The Argentine lower house’s Committee on Cooperative Affairs, Mutual Associations and Nongovernmental Organizations had summoned Lamelas after CALF — the Provincial Cooperative of Public and Community Services of Neuquén — alleged that a U.S. embassy official raised the possibility of visa restrictions for the cooperative’s directors if it continued negotiations with Huawei, Página/12 reported.

CALF detailed the allegations in a statement, saying the controversy began July 12 when its technology manager received WhatsApp messages from Andrew Dilts, the U.S. Embassy’s economic affairs attaché. According to CALF, the messages referred to a U.S. policy that could restrict or revoke the visas of directors linked to Huawei’s expansion and asked whether the cooperative could cancel the project. CALF said it requested a formal clarification from the embassy and the intervention of Argentina’s Foreign Ministry.

Lamelas later confirmed that the communications “faithfully reflect U.S. policy,” TN reported. The ambassador argued that companies subject to Chinese intelligence laws could be required to hand over data to the government in Beijing and warned that the use of Chinese technology in critical infrastructure in Vaca Muerta could discourage foreign investment.

CALF responded that it had not received any specific technical objection and that its network uses equipment from several countries, according to La Tecla Patagonia. The cooperative clarified that the proposed data center remains under evaluation and that Huawei’s participation has not been confirmed.

Lamelas and CALF representatives met August 12 to discuss data security, the expansion of telecommunications in Vaca Muerta and possible U.S. financing and equipment alternatives.

Committee Chairman Aldo Leiva, a member of the opposition Union for the Homeland party, said lawmakers would summon the ambassador again. Rep. Lorena Pokoik, also of the same party, criticized Lamelas’s absence. “He was supposed to appear before the Chamber of Deputies today to provide an explanation. He did not come, did not respond and did not even offer an excuse,” she wrote in a post on X.

In a separate Spanish-language post, Pokoik wrote: “El embajador de Estados Unidos, Peter Lamelas, cree que puede apretar por WhatsApp a una cooperativa argentina, amenazarla con consecuencias sobre las visas y exigirle que abandone sus vínculos comerciales con China.”

Opposition lawmakers described the visa warnings as foreign interference, and a draft resolution introduced in the Chamber of Deputies condemned the alleged pressure, according to Página/12.