The mocking statements of the Spanish minister provoke the anger of the Argentine presidency

Posted on: 04/05/2024. – 15:03

4 min

A row grows between Buenos Aires and Madrid: After comments by a Spanish minister confirming that Argentine President Javier Milei “took substances”, Buenos Aires accused Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday (4 May) of leading his country to a loss, advising instead to focus on the “corruption charges” against his wife.

It all started with a comment on Friday evening by the Spanish Minister of Transport, Oscar Puente, during a public debate in Salamanca. He suggested that the Argentine president had taken drugs. “I saw Miley on television” during the presidential campaign in Argentina, he said during a conference organized by the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE). “I don’t know if it was before or after taking (…) substances (…). I said: ‘There is no way he will win the election’.”

“There are very bad people who, by being them, got to the top,” he added, citing as examples the ultra-liberal Argentine president, elected in November, or former US president Donald Trump.

Known for being very active on social media, Oscar Puente was appointed minister in December.

His remarks did not go unnoticed by the Argentine presidency, which quickly reacted with a post on the social network.

“Sanchez put the middle class in danger with his socialist policies that bring only poverty and death,” she writes, accusing the executive of “endangering the unity of the kingdom by concluding an agreement with the separatists and bringing Spain to ruin .

A corruption scandal that Argentina finds very worrying

Parliament succeeded in returning Pedro Sanchez to power in November with the support of the Basque and Catalan independence parties, in exchange for an amnesty bill for separatists involved in Catalonia’s 2017 secession attempt, which was vilified by the far right and the Spanish right.

Argentina’s presidency also accused Sanchez “of having more important issues to deal with, such as corruption charges against his wife,” who is under investigation for influence peddling and corruption. And she expressed hope that the Spanish judiciary will quickly clarify this issue for “the stability of the nation and, consequently, for the relationship” between Argentina and Spain.

This investigation, placed under the seal of investigative secrecy, was opened following a complaint from the association “Manos limpias” (Clean hands), a collective close to the extreme right. The prosecution requested the closure of this investigation, but the judge presiding over the case has not yet revealed his intentions.

If the Spanish prime minister considered resigning for some time to protect his family after the announcement of the opening of this preliminary investigation, he ultimately decided to stay, confirming that the attacks on his wife were the product of a “smear campaign”.

Milei was invited to Spain by the far-right Vox party

Madrid responded, on Saturday, May 4, with a statement from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs in which it “categorically rejects” “the baseless provisions of the declaration published by the Presidency of Argentina, which do not correspond to the relations between the two countries and fraternal peoples.

“The government and people of Spain will continue to maintain and strengthen their fraternal ties and their relations of friendship and cooperation with the Argentine people, a desire shared by the entire Spanish society,” the text added.

Javier Milei will travel to Spain in two weeks, where he will participate in an event organized by the far-right opposition party Vox, which will take place on May 18 and 19, but he will not meet either the Prime Minister or the King of Spain.

During the presidential elections in Argentina where Javier Milei came to power, Pedro Sánchez openly supported the opponent Sergio Massa and refrained from calling the newly elected head of state to congratulate him after his victory.

Spain’s foreign ministry happily wished “success to Argentina in this new phase”, without mentioning Javier Miley’s name. The leader of the far-right party Vox, Santiago Abascal, went to Buenos Aires to attend the inauguration of the ultra-liberal Javier Milei.

With AFP