Bogotá (AFP) – Colombia ordered this Wednesday to expel “diplomats from the Argentine embassy” in Bogotá after a series of insults by the president of that country, Javier Milei, in which he called his “murderer” and “terrorist.” Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro.
First modification: 03/28/2024 – 02:17 Last modification: 03/28/2024 – 20:47
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“In this context, the Government of Colombia orders the expulsion of diplomats from the Argentine embassy,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, without specifying who the removed officials will be.
The ministry repudiated “an interview with the CNN channel in which (Milei) expressed himself in a degrading manner against the Colombian president.”
The American media earlier released excerpts of that conversation and cited some of Milei’s statements against Petro: “You can’t expect much from someone who was a terrorist murderer,” said the Argentine president, according to CNN’s digital portal.
For the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, “the expressions of the Argentine president have deteriorated the confidence of our nation, in addition to offending the dignity of President Petro, who was democratically elected.”
“The scope” of the expulsion “will be communicated to the Argentine Embassy through diplomatic institutional channels,” Bogotá anticipated.
The Argentine government has not commented on the matter.
-“It’s not the first time”-
Petro served for 12 years in the M-19, a nationalist guerrilla of urban origin, before signing peace in 1990 and jumping into politics.
In August 2022 he came to power as Colombia’s first left-wing president.
Relations with Argentina have been historically stable, but have deteriorated since the ultraliberal Milei came to power in December 2023.
“This is not the first time that Mr. Milei offends the Colombian president, affecting the historic relations of brotherhood” between both countries, the Foreign Ministry recalled.
The Colombian ambassador to Argentina, Camilo Romero, has been in consultations since the end of January, when Petro reacted to another interview in which his counterpart called him a “murderous communist who is sinking Colombia.”
Last year, still as a candidate, Milei stated on Colombian radio that “a socialist is trash” and “human excrement.”
Petro quoted this statement on his X account the next day, noting that “this is what Hitler said.”
Three days later, when asked about the Colombian president’s comment, in another radio interview Milei stated: “As a socialist, nothing surprises me (…) Those are part of the decadence.”
Petro then described Milei’s victory in the November elections as a “sad moment for Latin America.”
-Against AMLO-
As indicated by CNN this Wednesday, Milei also responded to criticism from the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador: “It is a compliment that an ignorant person like López Obrador speaks badly of me, it exalts me,” he said.
In 2023, Colombia was Argentina’s nineteenth most important trading partner, with a total exchange of 1,682 million dollars, and a balance in favor of the River Plate country of 894 million for mining, energy, agroindustrial and agricultural exports that last year totaled 1,283 million, according to the statistics institute Indec.
© 2024 AFP