Argentine President Javier Milei violated several diplomatic customs during his visit to Spain and caused a scandal during an EU election campaign organized by the right-wing populist Vox party in Madrid.
During his much-celebrated speech on Sunday, the 53-year-old sharply criticized Spain’s left-wing government and described Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, as “corrupt.” Although he did not directly mention the 49-year-old first lady by name, the allusion was clear.
The Spanish government’s response was not long in coming. She recalled her ambassador in Buenos Aires to Madrid for consultations and ‘for an indefinite period’.
Foreign Minister complains about “frontal attack on Spain”
When announcing this measure, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares spoke of a “frontal attack on our democracy, on our institutions and on Spain”. “It is unacceptable that a sitting president insults Spain and the Spanish prime minister during a visit to Spain,” Albares said.
Spain’s conservatives demand answers in the corruption scandal
Spain’s largest opposition party, the conservative People’s Party (PP), did not join the criticism of Milei. Party circles said Sánchez should have responded weeks ago to the corruption allegations against his wife. It is the responsibility of the PP to oppose the Spanish government and not against Milei.
Milei celebrated it “like a rock star”.
Milei had previously thrilled around 11,000 participants from Europe, the US and Latin America with his speech in Madrid. You have to say: “don’t do that damned and cancerous socialism”. Socialism leads “to slavery or death,” and social justice is “always unjust,” shouted the guest speaker, who describes himself as an “anarcho-capitalist.” The newspaper “El Mundo” and other media described the atmosphere in the Palacio de Vistalegre as follows: Milei was celebrated as a “rock star”. During the Argentine’s performance, people repeatedly chanted “freedom, freedom”. “Thank you very much, Javier Milei, for the terror you have instilled in the left of the West,” said Vox President Santiago Abascal.
First Lady in sight: accusations and rumors
Sánchez’s political opponents from the right-wing camp have been shooting at his wife for months to discredit the prime minister. Rumors even casually circulated that she was transgender and that her father secretly ran a brothel with Polish prostitutes. Recently, the right-wing extremist, self-styled anti-corruption group Manos Limpias (“Clean Hands”) even filed a complaint against Gómez. She is said to have abused her influence as First Lady to arrange a government aid package for the Spanish airline Air Europa in exchange for “favours”. It is also about bribes and the illegal use of taxpayers’ money.
In fact, the 49-year-old marketing expert had contact with the airline because, in addition to various NGOs and banks, she also worked for the travel company Globalia, part of Air Europa. But she rejects all accusations of corruption and unfair influence.
Source: Krone
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