Eduardo González
The Presidency of Argentina yesterday declared the diplomatic conflict with the Spanish Government “settled” after the “aggression” to which President Javier Milei was subjected by the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, who stated that the Argentine president “ingests substances”, and after the very harsh response of the Casa Rosada against the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez.
“It is a settled issue for us, it is over, it does not have to escalate,” declared the presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, during his daily press conference. “For a minister from another country to say that our president ingests I don’t know what substance is not only unhappy, but quite aggressive and that is what the Government expressed itself through the statement on,” he continued. “Theme over for us. It should not escalate beyond what has already occurred,” he added.
For his part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, told reporters yesterday that there was no diplomatic crisis, while leaving, without stopping to answer questions, the place where he had participated in a debate on Generation of Opportunities organized by Europa Press. In that debate, without referring at any time to Puente or Milei, Albares stated: “In European societies, and clearly here in Spanish society, disqualification is expanding its social space and its media space.”
Following Puente’s statements during an event organized by the PSOE, the Office of the Argentine President issued a statement in which he stated that “the Government of Pedro Sánchez has more important problems to deal with, such as the accusations of corruption that fall on his wife, an issue that even led him to evaluate his resignation”, and assured that Sánchez has endangered the unity of Spain, “by agreeing with separatists”; to Spanish women, “allowing the illegal immigration of those who threaten their physical integrity”; and to the middle class, for “socialist policies that only bring poverty and death.”
In its response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a note in which it “flatly rejected the unfounded terms” of that statement, which “do not correspond to the relations of two brother countries and peoples.” “The Government and the Spanish people will continue to maintain and strengthen their fraternal ties and their relations of friendship and collaboration with the Argentine people, a will shared by all of Spanish society,” it added.
According to Milei’s spokesperson, the statement from the Argentine Presidential Office was “a very minor response to an attack on the President of the Nation.” “To expressions contrary to good customs, and escaping any official channel, we respond with a very minor statement expressing a position of absolute rejection of the Spanish minister’s statements,” he added. “I get the feeling that it was a minor response out of respect and there is no intention of continuing to escalate the conflict under any circumstances,” he insisted.
Milei plans to attend a Vox political event in Madrid on May 18 and 19. In this regard, Adorni assured the press that “the agenda is not closed,” but no meeting with Sánchez is planned and, in fact, “it was not planned” even before the controversy. The Argentine president has not apparently requested any contact with the head of the Spanish Executive and it is not known, for now, that there is any plan to go to the Zarzuela Palace to compliment the King, with whom he already met in Buenos Aires, in December, on the occasion of his inauguration.
Government sources consulted by The Diplomat assured this weekend that the Government is confident that there will not be an escalation in the diplomatic conflict with Argentina, despite the harshness of the response from the Office of the President of Argentina and the outright rejection of the content. of the same by the Spanish Government. The same sources assessed that, at least until now, there has been no type of diplomatic action, such as the summoning of the respective ambassadors, or the sending of verbal notes of protest.
