“We reaffirm our desire to strengthen the ties that unite both nations. This important visit contributes to that purpose,” said Murillo.
A two-month diplomatic crisis
Romero had been called for consultations in Bogotá on January 26, after Milei assured, in an interview with journalist Patricia Janiot, that the Colombian president “is a murderous communist who is sinking” the country.
That was the first of a series of frictions between the two governments over Milei’s statements, which a month later, On February 24, he referred to Petro as “a lethal plague for Colombians themselves”, in response to a question from a journalist from the NTN24 channel. A situation that provoked a “strong rejection” from the Bogotá Foreign Ministry, which described what the Argentine president said as “irresponsible statements.”
However, the last straw was an interview given on March 26 by Milei to the CNN en Español channel, in which He called Petro a “terrorist murderer”, which led to the announcement of the expulsion of diplomats from the Argentine embassy in Colombia. A drastic measure that was never carried out.
You may be interested: Four months into his governance, Milei does not rule out re-election
On March 31, in a joint statement, the Argentine and Colombian foreign ministries said that they had held talks to “strengthen diplomatic relations,” a gesture that indicated that the waters had calmed down.
In that statement they announced that Mondino will soon visit Colombia and Romero’s return to the embassy in Buenos Aires.
The bad relationship between the two leaders and their ideological differences were evident since last year’s Argentine presidential campaign, in which Petro openly criticized Milei and expressed his support for his rival, Sergio Massa.
Petro classified Milei’s electoral victory as “sad for Latin America,” after comparing his ideas with those of Hitler and the former Argentine dictator Jorge Videla, during the Argentine presidential campaign.