Spain recalls Argentine ambassador following row with Milei

Spain has “permanently” recalled its ambassador to Buenos Aires, as part of a row that quickly intensified following comments made in Madrid by Argentine President Javier Milei.

President Milei said the decision was “absurd”.

At a far-right rally on Sunday, he called the wife of left-wing Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez “corrupt,” without directly naming Begoña Gómez.

The Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, summoned the Argentine Ambassador, Roberto Bosch, the next day to demand a public apology from President Milei, but no action was taken.

Mr. Albares described this affair as unique in diplomatic history. “There is no precedent for a head of state going to the capital of another country to insult its institutions and blatantly interfere in its internal affairs,” he said.

Spain had initially withdrawn its envoy, María Jesús Alonso, over the weekend for consultations, but the foreign minister said on Tuesday the ambassador would now remain in Madrid indefinitely. Argentina will no longer have a Spanish envoy, he said.

Mr Milei was invited to the Europa Viva 24 conference by the Spanish far-right party Vox, along with several other political leaders, on the eve of the European Parliament elections in three weeks.

While other far-right leaders talked about migration and strong borders, President Milei attacked socialism, Spain’s socialist prime minister and his wife.

“When you have a corrupt wife, let’s say, it gets dirty,” he says.

Last month, Pedro Sánchez threatened to resign when a preliminary investigation was opened into corruption allegations against Begoña Gómez made by a right-wing anti-corruption group. No charges were brought against her and the Madrid prosecutor said the case should be dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Mr. Albares does not rule out completely severing diplomatic relations if Argentina does not present a public apology.

At a press conference on Tuesday, he said that Spain did not want a new escalation, but that the government had an obligation to defend the dignity and sovereignty of its institutions.

Madrid will maintain its charge d’affaires in Buenos Aires for the moment, but could go further.

Argentina’s far-right president has been no stranger to controversy since coming to power last November, launching personal attacks against the presidents of Brazil and Mexico.

Returning to his remarks, he declared on Argentine television that he had not accused anyone by name during his speech in Madrid.

“I am in no way going to apologize if it was me who was attacked,” he told Todo Noticias.

Earlier this month, Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente accused the Argentine leader of using drugs during his election campaign.

At the time, President Milei brushed aside “slander and insults”, suggesting that the government in Madrid had more pressing problems to resolve, and referring to allegations of corruption against Mr Sánchez’s wife.

In his television interview, he affirmed that relations with Spain would not break, because it is people and not leaders who build a relationship.

In a new attack on the Spanish leader, he said Mr Sánchez was “using him politically because he had problems and he needed to polarize them”.