In the midst of diplomatic tension between Argentina and Spain, President Javier Milei will return to Madrid next Friday on a new private visit that will not include meetings with Spanish authorities. The far-right president, who this Monday reiterated his attacks against his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sánchez, will travel with the sole purpose of receiving an award from the Juan de Mariana Institute. Financed with public funds, Milei’s trips around the world to fulfill private commitments and promote his image as a libertarian leader are strongly criticized by the local opposition, which has even reported him to court for misappropriation of resources.
Both the Spanish and Argentine governments confirmed that there are no official activities planned during Milei’s visit. “We do not know the agenda of the president of Argentina, but if the trip finally takes place, I hope that during his statements he maintains respect for the people of Spain and its institutions,” the spokesperson for Sánchez’s Government, Pilar Alegría, warned this Tuesday.
Milei’s spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, reported that the president will leave Buenos Aires for Madrid on the 20th. Does his agenda include meetings with Spanish authorities? “Not at the beginning; That information is from today. This can change from here to Thursday itself, which is the day he travels, to Friday itself, which is the day he arrives,” said Adorni, in an attempt to show open a door that Milei himself seems to have closed.
After the accusations and insults of the Argentine president last May against Sánchez and his wife, Begoña Gómez, which led to the withdrawal of the Spanish ambassador in Buenos Aires, Milei returned to the charge this Monday against his Spanish counterpart. This time, she accused the Sánchez Government of persecuting a far-right communicator, Vito Quiles, who works as press officer for Alvise Pérez, leader of the group Se Acabó La Fiesta. In the same message, incidentally, she questioned Argentine journalists and concluded: “As it is a left-handed government, they pretend to be distracted. In the end they are all complicit in authoritarian socialism.”
At a press conference, spokesperson Adorni was asked about Milei’s new attack against Sánchez. First he sought to state that the dispute between the two is “an issue that is settled because it was clearly a discussion between two people, between two presidents, but in a personal capacity (…) Of course, it is an issue where they are not going to agree. never, because on one side we have a liberal president and on the other side we have a president who is not.”
Afterwards, Adorni had to answer if, for the Argentine Government, journalists are persecuted in Spain, as Milei accused. “The president was clear about a particular case that occurred with a journalist who we consider has been mistreated and, in that case, not treated within the framework of the freedom of the press and expression that we all want to exist,” confirmed the president. presidential spokesperson, in a definition at odds with Milei’s habits. According to a recent Amnesty International report, since he took office six months ago, the Argentine president “attacked more than 20 journalists and cultural figures.”
Milei’s time in Spain will be limited to an event at the Juan de Mariana Institute, which will present him with an award “for his defense of the ideas of freedom.” The ultra president’s European tour will continue in Germany and the Czech Republic, where he will alternate between private and official activities. In Hamburg on Saturday, he will be honored by the Hayek Association, which considers him an “ambitious reformer in the spirit of Friedrich A. von Hayek and the Austrian school of economics.” Later, in Berlin, Milei hopes to meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Finally, the Argentine president will pass through Prague to receive an award from the Liberal Institute of the Czech Republic “for his contribution to the development of liberal thought.” There he also plans to meet with local authorities.
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