As president of Argentina, Javier Milei maintains the incendiary tone that made him popular in the electoral campaign, but his provocations now become diplomatic crises. After the tension generated by his early attacks against the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro, the last bilateral relationship that Milei has dynamited has been the Colombian one. The Colombian Government demands that the Argentine apologize for having called Gustavo Petro a “terrorist murderer” and has announced the expulsion of Argentine diplomats from the country. The bond is also strained with Mexico: Andrés Manuel López Obrador has accused Milei of “despising the people” after the Argentine right-wing leader called him “ignorant.”
“With his grievances and offenses, Milei breaks 200 years of peaceful and friendly relations between Argentina and Colombia,” criticized former Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero. He also accused him of putting bilateral trade in crisis due to his “childish foreign policy.” From Colombia, the Minister of the Interior, Luis Fernando Velasco, denounced that Milei "cannot go around the world with this type of attitude and accusations with someone who represents the unity of the State, the unity of the people of another country." Velasco condemned the “tacky attitude” and assured that she “owes her own people an explanation.”
The Argentine Foreign Ministry remains silent, waiting for the expulsion of the diplomats to be completed before taking the next step. As on previous occasions, the portfolio headed by Diana Mondino tries to prevent the conflict from escalating, in a pacifying strategy that differs from that of the president. Far from being concerned about the political tension, Milei dedicated himself to tweeting notes from half a year ago, when Petro compared the then presidential candidate to Hitler.
The link between Argentina and Colombia, despite having two centuries of diplomatic relations, has never been particularly close. Not only because they are at opposite ends of South America, but because of diplomatic decisions, such as when the Andean country abstained from supporting Buenos Aires in the Malvinas war. But none has reached the current level of tension, with the announcement by the Petro Government that it will expel Argentine diplomats, in response to the interview in which Milei accused his counterpart of being a "murderer."
The accusation is particularly strong in Colombia because it touches on the sensitive point of armed conflict and the search for an elusive peace. Petro was a member of the M-19 guerrilla group, a group with a more social democratic than communist tendency, which signed a peace agreement more than 30 years ago. A group that remained in its decision to lay down its weapons and become a political party despite the immediate assassination of its leader and then presidential candidate, Carlos Pizarro Leongómez, in April 1990. A group that, already a party, was one of the fundamental forces in the drafting of the 1991 Constitution, recognized as a great advance in democratic openness and social rights.
For the Argentine president, that past, and the three decades that Petro has dedicated to politics, seem to not exist. But for Colombians, yes. The decision is one of the few that the Colombian president has made and has generated general support, judging by the supportive reactions or the silence of the main political leaders. This is despite the fact that Petro's popularity is barely around 35% since the country is mired in clear political polarization.
Tension with Mexico
López Obrador did not let Milei's last offense pass. His response came this Thursday through social networks. The Mexican president, who speaks regularly on a daily basis, took a vacation for Easter and did not give his morning press conference. In You are right: I still do not understand how the Argentines, being so intelligent, voted for someone who is not accurate, who despises the people and who dared to accuse his countryman [Pope] Francis of being a 'communist' and a '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."
Since becoming president, López Obrador has maintained the policy of not getting involved in foreign affairs. The Mexican president had only taken a firm stance on the crisis that Peru was going through with the departure of Pedro Castillo and the arrival of Dina Boluarte to power. But with the victory of the far-right in Argentina he could not help expressing his discontent. After the first round of the presidential elections, he described him as a “conservative fascist” and, after the victory in the second round, he said that the Argentine people had scored “an own goal.” Recently, during a visit by former President Alberto Fernández to Mexico, he avoided referring to Milei when asked by the press that sought to compare the relationship between the two countries with the previous Government and the current one. He did not want to mention him, but he criticized in general terms the course imposed by the Argentine. “He is a failed model,” he said.
López Obrador did something similar this Wednesday, after fragments of the interview were broadcast. Without naming Milei, he showed his chest with the Mexican “super peso,” which this week reached its best level since December 2015. “The peso is the currency that has strengthened the most in the world in relation to the dollar,” he noted on social networks. social, “poverty and inequality are reduced. With facts we are demonstrating that the Moral Economy is better than neoliberalism.” The presidential candidate of López Obrador's party, Claudia Sheinbaum, responded along the same lines, who was also attacked by Milei's statements, and she said that these are two different country projects. “We claim the free market, private investment, the role of businessmen, we are against corruption, but we also claim the role of the State, in terms of the welfare state.”
Milei's conflictive relationship with the leaders of the large Latin American countries contrasts with the praise directed towards the United States and Israel, whom he presents as his main allies in foreign policy. This is a radical change in the international relations of Argentina, which in recent years maintained an equidistant distance between Washington and Beijing and placed great emphasis on regional ties.
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