Politico has revealed a list of consulates that Elon Musk’s new department wants to close in the United States—and Ponta Delgada is included. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says, “There is no indication to that effect.”
The Portuguese government says it has “no contact” from the United States about the possible closure of the US consulate in Ponta Delgada.
Questioned by Rádio Renascença, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that it has had no contact with Washington “beyond the regular ones” regarding the Lajes Base. ” So far, there has been no indication to that effect,” it said in a statement.
The office of the Regional Government of the Azores vice president told Renascença that no relevant information was available on the subject.
Last Thursday, Politico reported that the new President of the United States, Donald Trump, intends to cut US spending on diplomats and embassies, with Ponta Delgada appearing on the list of potential consulates to be ordered to close.
In addition to the consulate in the Azores, diplomatic mission buildings in Rennes, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Bordeaux in France; Dusseldorf, Leipzig, and Hamburg in Germany; Florence in Italy; and Belo Horizonte in Brazil could be closed.
The cuts are part of Elon Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency plan, which aims to cut two billion dollars in state spending.
When Renascença contacted a State Department source, the latter replied that the department “continues to evaluate our global posture to ensure that we are well positioned to meet modern challenges on behalf of the American people.”
Renascença also questioned the US embassy in Lisbon, which has not responded to the request so far.
It should be remembered that official US relations with the Azores began 225 years ago, when President George Washington appointed the first official US consul, John Street, in 1795.
According to the US embassy, the country’s consulate in Ponta Delgada is the “oldest continuously operating consulate in the world.” It was initially located on the island of Faial, with branches in Ponta Delgada.
The United States and the Azores have a long relationship. The first inhabitants of the archipelago arrived in the country via whaling in the 18th century, as American whaling ships came to recruit men with a reputation as good sailors in the archipelago.
After the Capelinhos volcano on the island of Faial in 1957, then-senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy and an Italian colleague, John Pastore, pushed through an amendment in the Senate called the Azorean Refugee Act, which allowed thousands of Azoreans to emigrate, also from other islands, who took advantage of the opening. It is estimated that there are around 1 million Azorean descendants, mostly concentrated in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and California.


For some time, the United States had a consular agent on the island of Flores, but in 1917, all the consulate’s operations were established on São Miguel. After John Street was appointed consul in Horta, Thomas Hickling, a young American businessman who moved to São Miguel in 1769, was appointed vice-consul in Ponta Delgada in 1795.
Hickling left memories and stories in the Azores that survive to this day. One of them is a stone with his name engraved on it, dating from 1770, located near one of the volcanic pools in the Furnas Valley. The diplomat created a summer palace he called “Yankee Hall” in Furnas, which became the genesis of the gardens of the Hotel Terra Nostra.
The consulate’s first building in Ponta Delgada was the former Hotel São Pedro.
During the 19th century, representing the United States became a tradition for the Dabney family, as three generations served the country until they left the Azores in 1892.

In Diário dos Açores–Osvaldo Cabral, director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.