Who is Diana Mondino, Milei's key asset who also called Petro a 'terrorist'?

When the Argentine president Javier Milei called his Colombian counterpart a “terrorist murderer”, Gustavo Petroin an interview with Cnn in Spanish Last week, the name of an official timidly appeared to try to calm the diplomatic tension that was unleashed.

It was about Diana Mondino (City of Córdoba, 1958)the Argentine chancellor, who jumped onto the scene of the diplomatic mess as a kind of “specialist in putting out fires”, as some Argentine media already classify her.

She, a graduate in Economics, has become in her own way, and from her little experience, a the one in charge of carrying the “cold water cloths” to keep Argentina's relations stable with its business partners, without that having freed it from carrying its own controversies.

Mondino has a long career in teaching – more than 17 years at the CEMA University – as well as the fact that he is member of different boards of directors of important Argentine companies: Pampa Energía, Banco Supervielle, Loma Negra and Bodegas Bianchi. Also, he completed a master's degree in Economics and Business Management in Spain and in his resume he lists several courses at the American universities of Yale, Columbia and Darden.

Her debut in the political arena came precisely from the hand of Milei, who placed her last year at the head of his list of candidates for deputies in the city of Buenos Aires for her La Libertad Avanza party, a position in which she finally was elected.

“My mission will be to take care of Argentina's reintegration into the world. It is an honor to accompany you to the presidency,” he wrote in May on his X account, in which he already enjoyed great popularity for his criticism of Kirchnerism.

His closeness with Milei was such that from the beginning, when the campaign was just starting, It was already said in political circles that if the libertarian was elected president, Mondino would be his Minister of Foreign Affairs. And so it happened: Mondino was the first name that the libertarian confirmed in his cabinet once he won the presidential elections.

The chancellor economist who gives something to talk about in Argentina

Mondino already had a renowned career as an economist when he landed in Milei's government. In 1991, she founded Risk Analysis, a local risk rating agency, which was later acquired by Standard & Poor's, and she remained managing director for Latin America for almost eight years..

In 2007, he also won second place in the global competition 'New Thinkers'organized by the Lenovo company to choose the “world's most innovative leading thinkers.”

She was selected second among 6,000 participants from more than eight countries and was selected as one of those in charge of carrying the Olympic torch at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.. She then traveled to China, where he participated in the Olympic torch relay event in Shangri-La, Yunnan province.

At the end of 2022, Mondino had assets of almost 5,000 million Argentine pesosas stated in her sworn statement as a candidate for national deputy presented to the Anti-Corruption Office.

The current chancellor earned the trust of Milei for her ideological closeness to the liberal economy, as well as for her public pronouncements against the Peronist governments and her positions disseminated in the media and on social networks, a field where the Argentine president himself has managed to consolidate its popularity.

Diana Mondino has no diplomatic experience or experience in the field of foreign policy.

But, in contrast, expert voices warn of the gaps in his profile to occupy the position of chancellor.

“Diana Mondino has no diplomatic experience or in the field of foreign policy. His appointment has more to do with the trust that the president has in him than with his expertise.“says Argentine political scientist Lucas Romero, in conversation with this newspaper.

For him, Mondino's landing in the Foreign Ministry “shows that she has relied a lot on the Argentine diplomatic corps,” of which a good percentage, he adds, worked in that Ministry during the mandate of former president Mauricio Macri.

Romero points out in any case that Mondino's profile fits the government of Milei – also an economist who calls himself liberal -, a leader “without political experience, much less understanding of foreign policy.” And he adds that proof of this are the “light and unprofessional” statements of his government: “a president does not give an opinion on foreign policy but declares as head of state, and Milei has not understood that.”

In that sense, the political scientist adds: Mondino “fulfills the function of 'picking up the pieces' of that lightness, but he does so with a clear ideological bias.”

Has Argentina's tension with Colombia been resolved?

In their own way, The Argentine foreign minister tried over the weekend to tone down the diplomatic conflict with Colombia. “We would have to see why we should apologize. (Gustavo) Petro was indeed a terrorist,” Mondino commented in an interview regarding the accusations made by the Argentine president to his Colombian counterpart.

“It is not an issue that has to escalate in any way,” insisted the minister, who added: “The opinions that someone might have, whoever they are, good, bad or average, do not affect the relations between countries. Let us keep this in mind, this is very important (…) In no way have relations been broken, please. The Colombian and Argentine people have worked together, we have a lot of trade between both countries. That a president doesn't like what another president s
ays so much…“.

Official sources confirmed this Sunday that Foreign Minister Diana Mondina will soon travel to Colombia after both countries held talks “to strengthen diplomatic relations”, following the recent escalation of tension between Milei and Petro.

According to a statement from the Argentine Foreign Ministry, “by precise instructions from the presidents of both nations,” The Ministries of Foreign Affairs of both countries brought closer positions and took “concrete steps to overcome any differences and strengthen this relationship”.

Although Mondino suggests that (diplomatic) relations are not interpersonal, it is impossible for statements like those made by Milei about Petro not to impact relations between States.

Although Mondino's visit to Colombia, of which more details are not yet known, appears to be an effort to keep tensions in Colombia calm, for experts it is likely that These public conflicts will be repeated in the future.

“Although Mondino suggests that (diplomatic) relations are not interpersonal, it is impossible for statements like those made by Milei about Petro not to impact relations between States. Those types of statements will always impact“comments Leandro Lima, senior political risk analyst at Control Risks, who insists that the relationship between Colombia and Argentina “will continue to be tense, as long as there is an ideological conflict between the presidents.”

So much so, that experts remember that this is not the first exchange of statements between both leaders. Since the Argentine presidential campaign, disagreements between Petro and Milei have been evident, who have exchanged reproaches and insults in public due to their ideological differences.

In any case, The role of the chancellor will continue to be key in the way in which the tense calm with Colombia continues to evolve.

In the same way as it happens with other open fronts that Argentina has with other countries, such as Brazil, Mexico and China, due to statements by President Javier Milei or members of his government that have caused discomfort.

“Mondino has adopted a philosophy for foreign relations that these are between States and not interpersonal relations. < b>That speech has served him to react to Milei's public controversies with other international leaders, which are not few. We will listen to him for this crisis and for the next ones to come,” says Lima.

The controversies that Diana Mondino has been involved in

The experts consulted for this article agree that although Mondino, in effect, plays a moderating role in Milei's government, She has also been involved in controversies due to public statements.

In the words of Juan Negri, Political Scientist and director of Political Science and International Studies courses at the Torcuato Di Tella University: “Mondino is quite undiplomatic to be chancellor.”

One of her most criticized statements was a response she gave to a journalist when she was asked during an interview with The nation on equal marriage.

“If you prefer not to bathe and be full of lice and it's your choice, that's it, then don't complain if there is someone who doesn't like you having lice,” he responded, although moments later he clarified that the government is not proposing to repeal the marriage law. egalitarian. legalized in Argentina in 2010.

On another occasion, the Argentine foreign minister told the British newspaper The Telegraph that “the rights of the Falkland Islanders will be respected if Javier Milei wins the Argentine elections.”

That statement earned him the rejection of organizations of Malvinas ex-combatants and even the Secretariat of Malvinas, Antarctica and the South Atlantic, a department of the Ministry that he currently presides over..

Mondino had to come out to explain his initial statement: “What I said on the subject in an English medium, and having in view our 1994 Constitution with its transitional provisions, is that Argentina recognizes that the Malvinas are Argentine.”

For Negri, Mondino's challenge will then be not only to seek the moderation of President Milei, but also his own. “(Mondino) has known how to rely on the professional diplomatic corps of the Foreign Ministry, but she still lets herself speak, especially on television programs, and goes off course, so she herself will have to straighten out her own dose of unfortunate statements” .

Experts predict that Argentina's diplomatic conflicts with Colombia and other countries will continue, partly because of the view of 'good guys vs. evils' that President Javier Milei himself promotes in his speech to feed his support base, the one that brought him to power. The delicate thing, they point out, will be to see to what extent there will be too many fires to control for Mondino.

WILLIAM MORENO HERNÁNDEZ – INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL