Pedro Sánchez, Spanish Prime Minister / Javier Milei, Argentine President.
INTERNATIONAL – What is currently happening between Spain and Argentina, two countries so far known for peaceful diplomatic relations? The dispute has escalated in recent hours between Buenos Aires and Madrid, following comments by Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente who claimed that Argentine President Javier Milei had taken drugs.
“I saw Miley on TV” during the presidential campaign, 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: ‘It is impossible for him to win the elections'”.
“There are very bad people who, by being themselves, got to the top”, he added, citing as an example the ultra-liberal Argentine president, elected in November, or even former US president Donald Trump. Known for being very active on social media, Oscar Puente was appointed minister in December.
His remarks did not escape the Argentine presidency, which was quick to react by issuing a scathing press release on X in which Buenos Aires accused Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of bringing “poverty and death” to his people.
“Sánchez has put the middle class in danger with his socialist policies that bring only poverty and death”she writes, accusing the executive power of having “endangered the unity of the kingdom by concluding an agreement with the separatists and brought Spain to ruin”.
Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister in Trouble
Argentina’s presidency also indicted Sanchez “that he has more important issues to deal with, such as the corruption charges against his wife”who is under investigation for influence peddling and corruption.
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, claiming that the attacks on his wife were the product of “smudge campaign”.
Madrid responded this Saturday with a press release from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs “categorically refuses” THE “unfounded conditions of the declaration published by the Presidency of the Republic of Argentina, which do not correspond to the relations between the two countries and brotherly 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”adds text.
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. The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs was pleased with the request “success for Argentina in this new phase”without mentioning the name Javier Milei.
The leader of the far-right party Vox, Santiago Abascal, went to Buenos Aires to attend the inauguration of the ultra-liberal Javier Milei.
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