The Minister of the Interior of Colombia, Luis Fernando Velasco, accused the Argentine president this Thursday, Javier Mileiof being wrong “in serious matters” with his insults to his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petroand demanded an excuse for his statements.
“Mr. Javier Milei, you were wrong on a serious matter and you owe an excuse to the Colombian people and an explanation to your people, Argentina is much more than your bravado,” the minister indicated in his X account.
Velasco added that “the vulgar attitude, that of a village bully, can be profitable in a low-level electoral debate, but it should never be the behavior of a head of state.”
”In Colombia we respect the Argentine people, but we do not accept the treatment that their president gives to our president, the result of a democratic process that we respect and ensure respect,” added the Minister of the Interior.
The crisis in the bilateral relationship deepened on Wednesday when a preview of the interview that Milei gave to the CNN en Español channel in which he called Petro a “terrorist murderer” was broadcast, statements that were answered by the Colombian Foreign Ministry by ordering the expulsion of diplomats. Argentines.
In the interview, which will be broadcast on Sunday, Milei also called his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, “ignorant.”
“The Government of Colombia orders the expulsion of diplomats from the Argentine embassy in Colombia,” said the Foreign Ministry, without specifying the number of those affected by this measure or when they will have to leave the country.
“This is not the first time that Mr. Milei offends the Colombian president, affecting the historical relations of brotherhood between Colombia and Argentina,” the Foreign Ministry recalled about the importance of the 200-year bond between the countries, since the beginning of their diplomatic relations It dates from August 3, 1823.
Support for Petro
Colombia’s decision to expel Argentine diplomats was widely supported in the political sector where different voices rejected Milei’s repeated insults to Petro since this is the third time this year that the Argentine president refers to his counterpart in an insulting manner.
”Disagreements between presidents are inevitable. And perhaps necessary. But drifting towards insults is unacceptable. And as a Colombian, I cannot accept Milei’s infamous treatment of Petro,” Senator Humberto de la Calle stated in X.
The president of the Colombian Congress, Iván Name, for his part, issued a statement in which he repudiated “the disrespect” on the part of Milei towards the head of state and concluded: “Once again I wish for the brotherhood of our nations.”
”President Petro represents our country and sovereignty, so as a Colombian I cannot accept President Milei’s insults. The well-being of its citizens and brotherhood between countries must prevail over personal positions between rulers,” said the president of the Colombian American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), María Claudia Lacouture.
The mayor of Bogotá, Carlos Fernando Galán, also spoke out on the matter, indicating that “political differences between presidents, under no circumstances, can lead to expressions such as those of the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, about the president of Colombia. “Those terms are unacceptable.”
”In addition to slandering our president, Gustavo Petro, President Milei seriously offends our Nation that democratically elected him as Head of State. The decision of our Government is not against the Argentine people that we love and admire, it is against those who govern them today with an authoritarian spirit,” wrote the left-wing senators Iván Cepeda.
Quarrels between presidents
During the last Argentine presidential campaign, Petro expressed several times his opposition to Milei, who in recent months has not wasted the questions from journalists to launch his attack against the Colombian president. For example, on January 26, the Colombian Government He called his ambassador in Argentina, Camilo Romero, for consultations after Milei said in an interview with journalist Patricia Janiot that Petro “is a murderous communist who is sinking” the country.
A month later, on February 24, the Colombian Government once again expressed its “strong rejection” of what it described as “irresponsible statements” by Milei for a new offense against Petro, whom it referred to as “a lethal plague for its own people.” Colombians”, in response to a question from a journalist from the NTN24 channel. For his part, Petro classified the triumph of his now counterpart as “sad for Latin America” after comparing his ideas with those of Hitler during the Argentine electoral campaign.
Source: Gestion
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