Spain appeals to ties with Argentina to settle the controversy with Milei

The Spanish Government appealed to the ties that unite Argentina and Spain to continue maintaining these friendly relations after some demonstrations by the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, against the Argentine president, Javier Mileiprovoked the angry reaction of the South American president’s office, which attacked the head of the Spanish Executive, Pedro Sánchez.

All on account of Puente’s demonstrations at an event this Friday in the city of Salamanca (center) on social networks, where he stated that “On the networks you play hard and, if you don’t do it, you go unnoticed and are irrelevant”. Puente referred to “very bad people who, being themselves, have reached the top”, like the former US president donald trump and the current Argentine president.

But he went further and said that he had seen Milei make statements during the election campaignwhen it came out, I don’t know in what state and prior to ingestion or after ingestion of what substances”, without giving more details.

The Spanish minister’s demonstrations not only served to make the Office of the President of the Republic Argentina repudiate them, but for the leader of the conservative Popular Party (PP), first of the Spanish opposition, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to ask for Puente’s resignation or dismissal.

Rejection of the terms “unfounded” from the Argentine statement

The statement from the Office of Milei criticized Puente’s statements, but also Pedro Sanchez with these words: “He has more important problems to deal with, such as the corruption accusations leveled against his wife, an issue that even led him to consider resigning.”.

It refers to a complaint from the self-proclaimed far-right union Clean Hands against Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, for the alleged commission of crimes of influence peddling and corruption in business, based on press reports, and which Sánchez describes as hoaxes.

“For the good of the Kingdom of SpainWe hope that justice will act quickly to clarify such a corruption scandal that directly affects the stability of your Nation and, consequently, relations with our country.“, continued the text from the Argentine Presidency.

Terms that the Spanish Government, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rejected “roundly” and described as “unfounded“, because they also do not correspond”with the relations of two brother countries and peoples”.

“The Government and the Spanish people – the Spanish Ministry said in a statement – will continue to maintain and strengthen their fraternal ties and their relations of friendship and collaboration with the Argentine people, a will shared by the entire Spanish society.”.

Along the same lines, the Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, recalled that “The Argentine people and the Spanish people are two brother peoples that have a long historical trajectory of common achievements and this will continue.”.

Redondo downplayed the criticism of Milei. “I think what is really important is the fraternal relationship that exists between the Spanish village and the Argentine people”, he insisted.

Feijóo calls for Puente’s resignation

The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, was forceful at a rally in Badalona (Barcelona) during the campaign for the regional elections in Catalonia, in which he urged Puente to “resign or be dismissed“for having caused”a political crisis with a brother country” like Argentina.

“They boast of international relevance, and have just created a political crisis with a sister country like the Republic of Argentina. They ask not to be insulted, and they insult everyone“, Feijóo denounced before ensuring that the socialists “They are a hoax factory” and “They move like no one else in the quagmire”.

Puente en X immediately replied: “It is impossible to distinguish him from the extreme right.”

“Whether you support your government or Milei I was going to choose Milei, did not quote. He is already asking for a place to be made for him at the rally with Abascal on May 18. It is impossible to distinguish him from the extreme right”Puente wrote on his social network account X.

Puente is a politician who is characterized by his direct and sometimes harsh language, both on social networks and in his public interventions, and in this message, he refers to Milei’s participation on May 18 in a meeting organized in Madrid by the far-right Vox party, whose president, Santiago Abascal, is very close to the Argentine president, whom he accompanied on December 10 in Buenos Aires at his inauguration.

Also the second vice president of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, leader of the left-wing Sumar party, partner of the socialists in the Government, referred to the PP on her X account and wrote: “To no one’s surprise, between the Spanish Government of economic growth and the distribution of wealth and the Argentine Government of recession and massive impoverishment, the PP sides with Milei and not our country”.