After Milei’s offense to Petro, Argentina and Colombia try to remedy the diplomatic crisis

Argentina and Colombia are making a diplomatic effort to contain a crisis generated by strong statements that the Argentine president, Javier Milei, made about the Colombian head of state, Gustavo Petro, in an interview with the American network CNN. Among the insults, Milei referred to Petro as a “murderous terrorist”, highlighting his past as a former member of the M-19 guerrilla movement.

The release of the preview of the interview last Wednesday (27) made Colombia decide to expel all Argentine diplomats from the country.

The libertarian leader named his Colombian counterpart as one of the worst presidents in Latin America and included him among those who lead the continent’s authoritarian regimes, such as Daniel Ortega, in Nicaragua, and Nicolás Maduro, in Venezuela.

“Without a doubt, the worst presidents in Latin America, by scandal, what has to do with the dictatorship in Venezuela, with the communism that Petro wants to promote in Colombia, or what Nicaragua has, or what Cuba has, which is Worst of all, they are truly despicable,” said Milei.

The Colombian reaction came strong on the same day. “The Argentine president’s expressions deteriorated the confidence of our nation, in addition to offending the dignity of president Petro, democratically elected,” said a statement published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Milei added in his criticisms his disagreement with the condemnations of the presidents of Chile and Colombia of Israel’s response to Hamas. “There is an ideological position there, coincidentally you are nominating all socialists, that is, they have double standards, if the dictatorships are socialist, they are fine. Dictatorships are wrong, whether they are right-wing, left-wing, whatever they want. If the dictatorships are theirs, they are fine,” she said.

In recent days, the diplomatic areas of both countries decided to alleviate the situation and began trying to remedy the crisis. A joint note from the Foreign Affairs departments this Monday (1) said that “the respective governments have taken concrete steps to overcome any differences and strengthen this relationship”. The measures will include the return of the respective ambassadors of both countries.

Reuters recalls that relations between Colombia and Argentina have historically been stable, but tensions have increased since Milei took office in December. Colombia recalled its ambassador to Argentina in January following similar comments made by the Argentine leader.

(With Reuters)