The Government has decided to “definitively” withdraw the Spanish ambassador in Buenos Aires, María Jesús Alonso Jiménez, after verifying that the President of the Argentine Republic, Javier Milei, is not going to apologize for calling Begoña Gómez, wife of the head of the Spanish Executive, as had been requested from the Spanish Executive. For its part, Argentina will not adopt diplomatic measures in reciprocity to the announcement, Milei himself has replied, who has pointed out that this initiative is “an antics” by Pedro Sánchez.
After Milei assured in an interview last night that he would not apologize “under any point of view” considering that he was “the one attacked,” the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, at a press conference After the Council of Ministers, he pointed out that since the situation has not changed, and since Milei’s “response” has been an interview in which he refused to apologize, Argentina “will have to continue without a Spanish ambassador in Buenos Aires and the embassy will continue at the charge d’affaires level.”
The head of Spanish diplomacy has described the attitude of the Argentine president as a “frontal attack on good faith and hospitality on the part of the Spanish institutions” when the Government offered him the privileges in the treatment of a head of State, with the Base Torrejón Air Station and the security device.
“He will become the laughingstock of the whole world for the antics he is doing as a result of a personal issue,” Milei stated in telephone statements to the television channel La Nación, shortly after the Spanish announcement became known. In the opinion of the Argentine politician, if Sánchez “is making a major mistake”, he is not “going to be so stupid as to repeat such a mistake”, so Argentina will keep “everything as it has been until now”. “If President Pedro Sánchez wants to continue insisting on this aberration, it is a mistake that he will make. He will not find the error from us,” she asserted.
Albares himself, who last Sunday called the ambassador for sine die consultations and summoned the Argentine ambassador in Madrid, Roberto Bosch, has emphasized to justify a diplomatic measure as drastic as the definitive withdrawal of the ambassador in Buenos Aires that the The situation created by the Argentine president represents “a unique case in the history of international and diplomatic relations” since “there are no precedents for a ruler who goes to the capital of another country to insult its institutions.”
Beyond this, the minister has also reproached Milei for, even if it were out of “diplomatic courtesy”, he did not even meet with his counterpart Pedro Sánchez on his first visit to Spain as Argentine president, a practice that, according to Albares, All Ibero-American leaders especially observe.
The head of Spanish diplomacy has made it clear that Spain does not “desire any escalation” with Argentina nor “has it created this situation.” However, he has considered that “it is the Government’s obligation to defend the dignity and sovereignty of Spanish institutions, much more so when the aggression occurs from the capital of Spain.” However, Albares, who has started from the premise that “collaboration is always more powerful than confrontation”, has indicated that the Government will protect and promote the “indissoluble and fraternal” ties between Spain and Argentina.
Albares has also disfigured the attitude of Vox and PP regarding Milei’s words that caused the current diplomatic crisis. “What I don’t understand and what hurts me is to see that these insults were receiving applause and laughter from other Spaniards who should have suspended the event,” Albares indicated in reference to the Vox rally where Milei accused Gómez of being corrupt. And he has also pointed out “the lukewarmness of the PP, putting buts and objections” to the Government’s reaction. “There are times to be the opposition but on Sunday it was to be Spain,” the minister summarized.
The government spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, has also reproached the Argentine president for accusing Sánchez in last night’s interview of hiding “under the skirts of women” from the Spanish government in a gesture of “cowardice.” Ella Joy reminded her that “in the 21st century, politics is not a question of skirts or pants, but of respect, and the fact that women have a voice and autonomy is not cowardice, but equality.” “It is no coincidence that a feminist government in a feminist country such as Spain receives disqualifications and attacks from the far-right international,” she said, and “after these statements, feminism is more necessary than ever in politics, in institutions and in institutions.” international relations”.
Regarding Milei’s possible new visit to Spain on June 21 to receive an award, Albares stated that the Government will study “what type of visit Milei wants to make in Spain”, recalling that this weekend Spain had put his available “all means” to welcome you with “the hospitality that the dignity of the position deserves.”
Faced with Milei’s attitude, Albares has contrasted the words of the Minister of Transportation, Óscar Puente, who after implying that the Argentine president took narcotic substances, acknowledged that if he had known the impact of his words he would not have uttered them, and has defended that the Government is behaving with “all courtesy and diplomatic practices.” In this sense, he explained that yesterday, Monday, he personally received the Argentine ambassador “with all the courtesy and dignity that the position deserves.” However, the head of Spanish diplomacy has maintained that this courtesy and these diplomatic practices “have not been respected by Javier Milei and his response has been an interview.”