Milei’s verbal attack on Spanish PM’s wife sparks diplomatic row with Argentina | International

The Spanish government has reacted strongly to comments made by Argentine President Javier Milei last Sunday in Madrid while attending an international far-right gathering organized by Spain’s ultra-nationalist Vox party.

In a speech, Milei attacked Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, calling his wife Begoña Gómez “corrupt” and sparking a serious political and diplomatic row between the two countries. To add even more solemnity to the reaction, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares read out a tough institutional statement in La Moncloa, the seat of government, in which he announced that he would recall the Spanish ambassador to Buenos Aires, María Jesús Alonso Jiménez. indefinitely. He also called for a public apology from Argentina’s president and warned that if one is not made, “we will take all appropriate measures to defend our sovereignty and dignity.”

Recalling an ambassador for consultations is one of the harshest protest measures possible diplomatically. The Spanish government has been very reluctant to use it in recent years and did not do so when Morocco, Algeria and Israel recalled their own ambassadors in Madrid due to other diplomatic crises.

The Foreign Minister described the Argentine president’s words as “very serious” and stressed that they went beyond “any kind of political and ideological differences” and were “unprecedented” in the history of relations between the two countries. He noted that Spain received Milei “in good faith” and although he did not request an institutional meeting and came to participate in a far-right congress, “he was treated with all due respect and deference and was offered the public.” Funds from the Spanish state.” The plane Milei was traveling on had landed at the Torrejón de Ardoz air base in Madrid.

Albares described Milei’s comments as “a frontal attack” on Spanish democracy, its institutions and Spain as a whole. He said it was “unacceptable” for a sitting president to insult the country and its head of government during a visit to Spain, in complete breach of accepted diplomatic rules of conduct.

But a senior source in the Argentine government, who is in constant contact with Milei and his foreign minister, told this newspaper that the president will not apologize to Sánchez in any way, “not even disguised as a kangaroo.” Buenos Aires believes the response to “a casual remark at a campaign event” was “totally disproportionate.”

At the Europa Viva 24 event sponsored by Vox, which was also attended by French National Assembly President Marine Le Pen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (who attended via video link), Milei verbally attacked Pedro Sánchez without directly addressing him mention . “They do not know what kind of society and country socialism can produce, what kind of people will cling to power and what level of abuse it can produce. Even if he has a corrupt wife, he gets dirty and takes five days to think about it,” Milei said, alluding to the deliberation period Sánchez needed last month to decide whether he should remain in office after a Judge had decided to open a case against him to investigate his wife Begoña Gómez in response to a complaint from the far-right group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), which has taken legal action against left-wing leaders in the past. Sánchez later decided to remain in office.

Although he improvised the comment, Milei seemed to immediately understand the possible consequences. He quickly added: “Given the things I usually say, I often receive criticism from various members of the establishment. They tell me: “But you are a head of state, how can you make such comments about your political opponents?” How do you talk like that about other international leaders? I tell them that the cultural battle is not something that you take or leave at will, but that it is an unavoidable obligation.”

This is not the first diplomatic conflict between Spain and Argentina since Milei came to power. At the beginning of May, the Spanish Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, suggested that the new president should use drugs, to which the Casa Rosada responded with a very harsh statement disqualifying the government of Pedro Sánchez. Puente expressed lukewarm remorse and the Argentine Foreign Ministry closed the incident.

During the five months he spent at Casa Rosada, Milei had diplomatic disputes with Chile, Venezuela and Mexico. But the most serious dispute occurred last March with Colombia, whose president Gustavo Petro was described by Milei as a “terrorist murderer,” prompting Bogota to announce the expulsion of three Argentine diplomats, although that step was not followed through.

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