The diplomatic crisis with Spain helps Argentina’s Milei cover up his domestic battles

Argentina and Spain are going through their worst diplomatic crisis in recent history, with no short-term solution in sight. “It could last a lifetime, because [Spanish Prime Minister] Pedro Sánchez’s ideas will probably never be compatible with Javier Milei’s ideas,” said Argentina’s presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, on Tuesday. Buenos Aires has rejected the notion that this is a diplomatic conflict and instead considers it “a strictly personal issue” that is part of “a discussion of conflicting ideas.”

In a speech made this past Sunday in Madrid, Argentina’s president Javier Milei — who was attending an international far-right gathering organized by Spain’s ultranationalist Vox party — attacked Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and called his wife Begoña Gómez “corrupt,” alluding to a legal complaint filed against her by an organization, Manos Limpias (Clean Hands) with a history of mounting legal challenges against leftist leaders. The sentence that Milei uttered at the political rally was: “You don’t know what kind of society and country socialism can produce, and what kind of people stuck to power and what levels of abuse it can generate. Even if he has a corrupt wife, he gets dirty and takes five days to think about it.” Milei was alluding to the five-day period of reflection that Sánchez took last month to decide whether to remain in office following a judge’s decision to open proceedings to investigate his wife.

Sánchez has demanded an apology, and Milei has refused to offer one, instead describing himself as the offended party. Milei has also been highly critical of Spain’s decision to recall its ambassador in Buenos Aires as a sign of protest. “It is nonsense typical of an arrogant socialist,” he said. “[Sánchez] is so fatally arrogant that, regarding a personal problem, in a sentence that did not mention any names, he felt personally targeted. Then the problem lies with Mr. Pedro Sánchez, and from there he makes an absolutely meaningless diplomatic escalation. Does he think that he is the State? That is very totalitarian, it is very socialist.”

Recession and social protests

According to Milei, Sánchez’s reaction is part of a political strategy to divert attention: “He has problems in Spain and needs to polarize.” But Argentina’s opposition leaders believe that Milei is doing the same thing back home. The confrontation with the Spanish government has helped the Argentine president cover up his own domestic battles, starting with his government’s difficulties in securing approval for his sweeping cuts to state spending within the established deadlines. And then there is the great economic recession that Argentina is going through, with a year-on-year drop of 3.2%, and and increase in poverty and unemployment figures.

The international confrontation has also made an unprecedented protest by police officers in northeastern Argentina go almost unnoticed. Officers camped out last week in the middle of a central avenue in Posadas, in the province of Misiones, to demand salary improvements. The attempts to reach an agreement have failed and the protest continues to grow: street closures have multiplied and in addition to the police, government employees, teachers, agricultural producers and prison workers have joined the protests.

Unlike his predecessors, Milei traveled to Spain as president of Argentina yet did not greet either PM Sánchez or King Felipe VI, with whom he had had a cordial meeting in Buenos Aires in December, when the monarch attended his inauguration ceremony. The initial objective of the trip was to support the launch of Vox’s campaign for the European elections, although at the last minute a meeting with Spanish business leaders was also set up. Some opposition leaders in Argentina have demanded detailed information about Milei’s international trips, arguing that he has been using public funds for visits that were mostly private in nature.

The analyst Carlos Pagni maintains that Milei’s actions are more similar to those of the head of a political coalition, La Libertad Avanza (Freedom Advances), than to those of a nation’s president. Pagni notes that Milei has underscored how Vox’s leader, Santiago Abascal, recognized him when no one else did. This is a constant theme in Milei’s thinking: thanking those who supported or distinguished him when others were bullying him, Pagni wrote in the newspaper La Nación. The rise of Milei, a 53-year-old economist, was dazzling. He jumped from television sets to politics in 2021 and won a seat representing a new party. Just two years later, Argentines elected him president in a run-off with 56% of the votes.

A frustrated deal

The fight with Sánchez has given some breathing room to the government, besieged by new obstacles to approve its bill to defund the state. Milei will not be able to celebrate that legislative victory this Saturday, as initially proposed. After securing support from the lower chamber, the initiative has run aground in the Senate. The ruling party has only seven of the 72 seats there and faces a divided opposition. The hardest wing, the leftist Kirchnerism, seeks votes to reject the bill; another group is willing to discuss it and is pressuring the government to accept some changes.

Milei has left the political negotiations in the hands of his ministers, and seems convinced that in the end they will achieve their goal. “We are not going to give up on making Argentina the freest country in the world,” Milei reiterated. He will sell that hope on Wednesday at the most emblematic stadium in Buenos Aires, Luna Park. There he will present his latest book in front of 5,000 people, and at the end of it, there will be a musical show starring himself as singer and protagonist. “He is not celebrating anything at all. He will be at an event that he is personally financing,” said his spokesman Adorni, asked about the event. The world looks on in disbelief at this president with a thousand faces.

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