this comment on Javier Milei and drugs caused a diplomatic quarrel

INTERNATIONAL – What is currently happening between Spain and Argentina, two countries known until now for their peaceful diplomatic relations? A quarrel has grown in recent hours between Buenos Aires and Madrid, after a comment by the Spanish Minister of Transport, Oscar Puente, who claimed that Argentine President Javier Milei was taking drugs.

“I saw Milei on TV” at the time of the presidential campaign, he said during a conference organized by the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE). “I don’t know if it was before or after the ingestion (…) of substances (…) I said: ‘It’s impossible for him to win the elections'”.

“There are very bad people who, by being themselves, reached the top”, he added, citing as an example the ultraliberal Argentine president, elected in November, or even former American president Donald Trump. Known for being very active on social networks, Oscar Puente was appointed minister in December.

His remarks did not escape the Argentine presidency, which hastened to react by publishing on X a virulent press release in which Buenos Aires accuses Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of bringing “poverty and death” to his people.

“Sánchez has put the middle class in danger with his socialist policies that only bring poverty and death”she writes, accusing the executive also of having “endangered the unity of the kingdom by sealing an agreement with the separatists and leading Spain to its downfall”.

Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister in distress

The Argentine presidency also accused Sánchez “to have more important problems to resolve, such as the corruption accusations against his wife”who is under investigation for influence peddling and corruption.

This investigation, placed under the seal of investigative secrecy, was opened following a complaint from the “Manos limpias” (Clean Hands) association, a collective close to the far right. The prosecution has requested the closure of this investigation but the judge in charge of the case has not yet revealed his intentions.

If the Spanish Prime Minister for a time considered resigning to protect his family after the announcement of the opening of this preliminary investigation, he ultimately decided to remain, affirming that the attacks against his wife were the product of a “smear campaign”.

This Saturday, Madrid responded with a press release from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs in which it “categorically rejects” THE “unfounded terms of the declaration published by the Presidency of the Argentine Republic, which do not correspond to the relations of the two countries and brotherly peoples”.

“The government and people of Spain will continue to maintain and strengthen their fraternal ties and their relations of friendship and collaboration with the Argentine people, a desire shared by all of Spanish society”adds the text.

Javier Milei will travel to Spain in two weeks where he will participate in an event organized by the far-right opposition party Vox, which will take place on May 18 and 19, but he will not meet either the Prime Minister or the King of ‘Spain.

During the presidential election in Argentina which saw Javier Milei come to power, Pedro Sánchez openly supported the opposing candidate, Sergio Massa, and refrained from calling the newly elected head of state to congratulate him after his victory. The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs was content to wish “success for Argentina in this new stage”without mentioning the name of Javier Milei.

The leader of the far-right Vox party, Santiago Abascal, went to Buenos Aires to attend the inauguration of the ultraliberal Javier Milei.

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