Through his Minister of the Interior,
the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro,
made it known this Thursday that he expects an apology from Javier Milei for the new public statements of the libertarian who once again called his Colombian counterpart a “murderous terrorist.” The conflict led Bogotá to order the expulsions of Argentine diplomats accredited there without specifying who and when they should leave the country.
"The problem is not with the Argentine people, the problem is with the vulgar attitude of its president who offends the Colombian people and who owes an explanation to his own people. One cannot go around the world with this type of attitude and accusations with whom he represents the unity of the State, the unity of the people of another country,” Minister Velasco told Caracol Radio.
Despite everything,
Milei did not seem to back down and this Thursday he justified his statements on social networks.
She recalled that
Petro compared him to Adolf Hitler during last year's election campaign.
“I'll leave you with some things that Petro told me,” Milei said and she posted newspaper articles that reflected the comparison that the Colombian president made in September of last year.
The Argentine ambassador to Colombia, Gustavo Dzugala, spoke personally with the vice chancellor of that country, Francisco Coy, and they have not yet given him definitions about who and in what terms they must leave the country. Even more strange, the Colombian diplomats with whom
Clarín
was able to speak assured that also the Colombian ambassador in Buenos Aires, Camilo Romero - who has been summoned since last January in the capital of his country by Petro when Milei also said that he was a "murderous communist" ” who was “sinking his country” – told Dzugala that maybe he doesn't have to be the one expelled.
With Dzugala, a respected career ambassador, there are 7 diplomats in Bogotá: an official in charge of the consulate, one of the commercial section, another of the cultural part and judicial cooperation, another in charge of peace issues (here we have troops in UN and in the OAS), another who deals with politics and his second in charge
Javier Milei against Gustavo Petro, a public fight that has been going on for months and entered into a diplomatic crisis.
For that matter, the formal communication from Colombia to Argentina on Wednesday night had not arrived in Buenos Aires this Thursday at noon. Foreign Minister Diana Mondino and her team, who live putting out the diplomatic fires in the Casa Rosada, were trying to speak with Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo. And it was not possible.
Following Milei's statements to CNN that will be broadcast this Sunday, and in which he
also criticized the Mexican Andres Manuel Lopez Obrado
r - who had also compared Milei to Hitler - the Colombian Foreign Ministry released a statement repudiating the Argentine president's statements.
López Obrador responded after noon and on Twitter.
"Milei stated that I am “ignorant” because I called him a conservative.
He is right: I still do not understand how Argentines, being so intelligent, voted for someone who is not accurate, who despises the people and who dared to accuse his countryman Francisco of being a "communist" and "representative of the Evil One on earth", when it comes to the most Christian Pope and defender of the poor that I have ever known or heard of. Post date: I hug Gustavo Petro," he wrote.
The text indicated along the same lines that "this is not the first time that Mr. Milei offends the Colombian President, affecting the historical relations of brotherhood between Colombia and Argentina."
And he also considered that "the expressions of the Argentine president have deteriorated the confidence of our nation, in addition to offending the dignity of President Petro, who was democratically elected."
That is why he announced: "In this context, the Government of Colombia orders the expulsion of diplomats from the Argentine embassy in Colombia. The scope of this decision will be communicated to the Argentine Embassy through diplomatic institutional channels."