As established by Article 75 of Law 26,522 on Audiovisual Communication Services, LRA Radio Nacional, LS82 TV, Canal 7, the public television, along with all the stations that make up the national radio and television network of the country and the international service RAE Radiodifusión Argentina al exterior, are broadcasting. We will now hear the words of the President of the Nation, Dr. Javier Milei.
Good evening, Argentines of goodwill. I have the enormous honor and unparalleled joy to address you today in this brief message to inform you of a historically significant and unprecedented event for our country. A few hours ago, U.S. justice ruled in favor of Argentina in the trial over the expropriation of YPF. A trial that, if lost, would have implied paying the sum of 18 billion dollars, equivalent to 70 million minimum pensions. This ruling was virtually impossible, but thanks to the legal, political, and diplomatic expertise of the government team, we managed to turn the tide in our favor. In the face of adversity, perseverance triumphed. In the face of irresponsibility, constancy triumphed. That is why today is a day of celebration and joy for Argentines of goodwill, because today we have removed the sword of Damocles that hung over our heads due to populist arrogance. Today we have a richer nation, but also a more serious one, that honors its commitments and defends its assets on the international stage. But even today, there are those who want to read this news as an achievement of the administration that expropriated the companies in the first place. I will say it by name. I am talking about Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and the ineffable Axel Kicillof. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is an affront to Argentines for them to try to appropriate this result. It is important that we all have something clear. These characters from our past plunged us into a suicidal adventure that could have cost us everything, much more than the country is in a position to pay, and could have left us without YPF and with a bankrupt state. Because, I repeat, an adverse ruling in this trial would have cost the country, all of us, 18 billion dollars. Having to pay them would have represented an enormous obstacle on the path of our economic recovery. Furthermore, it is important to consider the immeasurable price Argentina paid for this irresponsibility in terms of country risk, interest rates, and lower economic growth. Regardless of the legal expertise of our team, there is an irrefutable truth. Expropriating is wrong because stealing is wrong. And breaking this principle cost us approximately 12 years of lack of investment due to the ongoing trial, meaning fewer companies, less work, more poverty, and more destitution. So, populism may appear beneficial in the short term and look good in front of the cameras, but it sends signals to the rest of the world and brings negative consequences in the medium and long term, because it jeopardizes the legal foundations on which all investments in the country are based, especially strategic ones made with a long-term view. Let it be understood for all those who talk about sovereignty and the development of strategic sectors and national interest. The best way to defend strategic interests is with substantial and sustained investments over time, and the only way to guarantee it is with legal security. This is true patriotism, not cheap, knockoff nationalism. By adopting the opposite model, the false sovereignists put all Argentines at risk and impoverished them. The YPF trial began during the presidency of Cristina Kirchner. Then the trial was lost in the first instance during the presidency of Alberto Fernández. Now, Argentina has achieved a historic ruling in this administration. I repeat, a historic ruling in this administration. What seemed impossible, we made possible. They gambled with our future. We did not gamble. We simply won. This administration once again cleaned up the mess because liberalism is about taking responsibility for the mistakes of the past and also for the needs of the future. That is why we have sent to Congress a bill to modify the expropriation law, so that arrogance and politics do not cost us another lost decade and so that private property can never again be called into question in our country. And I also want to clarify something so there is no confusion. The fact that we are fixing the disaster they left us does not mean, under any point of view, that such a disaster did not exist, and we all know it very well. The virtue of our teams cannot make us forget the incompetence of the past, because if that happens, we will be doomed to repeat the same mistakes. That is why I want to give some individual recognitions. This achievement is the result of the rigorous, professional, and shared work of the State's legal team, led by the legal and technical secretary and the legal brain of this administration, María Ibarzabal Murfi, the Attorney General of the Treasury, Sebastián Amerio, the Deputy Attorneys General Santiago Castro Videla, Julio Pablo Comadira, and Juan Ignacio Estampalija, and their teams. Thank you on behalf of all Argentines of goodwill for your technical excellence and your service to the nation. We also highlight the role of Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, Economy Minister Luis Caputo, and Ambassador Alec Oxenford, whose key work was instrumental in obtaining this ruling that strengthens the framework of predictability necessary for the development of strategic projects and the consolidation of the Argentine energy sector. As I said at the beginning, today is a day of national celebration. Argentina is going to come out ahead. Argentina is going to be great again. Thank you all very much. May God bless all Argentines, may the strength of heaven be with us, and long live the homeland.
