Colombia expels Argentine diplomats amid row with Milei

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Colombia said Wednesday it had ordered the expulsion of Argentine diplomats, after President Javier Milei called his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro a "terrorist" and "murderer."

Colombia's Foreign Ministry cited Milei's "denigrating" remarks, which were made in an interview with CNN en Español which has not yet been aired in full.

US media outlets, quoting excerpts from the conversation, said Milei had remarked that “you can't expect much from someone who was a terrorist assassin.”

"The Argentine president's comments have deteriorated the trust of our nation, in addition to offending the dignity of President Petro, who was democratically elected," the Foreign Ministry in Bogotá said in a statement.

“In this context, the Colombian government has ordered the expulsion of diplomats from the Argentine Embassy," it said.

Colombia's Foreign Ministry did not specify how many diplomats would be expelled but said the expulsion would be communicated to Argentina by "diplomatic channels."

Initial reports said that Colombia’s ambassador in Buenos Aires would be recalled, with Milei’s diplomat in Bogotá, Gustavo Dzugala, likely to be expelled.

Argentina’s government has yet to respond.

Since taking office in December, Milei has grabbed headlines with his fiery rhetoric, including likening abortion to murder in a speech to high school students in March.

Relations between Argentina and Colombia have typically been stable but have deteriorated since Milei took office.

"This is not the first time that Mr Milei has offended the Colombian president, affecting the historic relations of brotherhood" between the two countries, said Bogotá in its statement.

Petro was for 12 years a member of a guerrilla force known as M-19, which signed a peace agreement in 1990. He later jumped into politics, serving as a senator and as mayor of Bogotá before being elected Colombia’s first left-wing president in 2002.

In January, Colombia recalled its envoy in Argentina, Camilo Romero, after Milei called left-leaning Petro a "murderous communist who is sinking Colombia."

Shortly afterwards, Petro responded: "Those who attack us have no idea what communism and socialism are.”

Last year, while still a candidate, the Argentine leader said on Colombian radio that "a socialist is rubbish" and equivalent to "human excrement.”

Petro quoted this statement on his X social media account the following day, adding that "this is what Hitler said.”

Three days later, asked about the Colombian leader’s comment, Milei said in another radio interview: "Nothing surprises me about a socialist … they are part of the decadence."

Later, Petro described Milei's victory in the November elections as a "sad moment for Latin America.”

According to CNN reports, Milei also responds to criticism from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the interview.

“It's flattering that an ignoramus like López Obrador speaks ill of me, it exalts me," he is reported to have said.

The Mexican leader, commonly known as AMLO, waded into the row on social media Thursday.

“Milei claimed that I am ‘ignorant’ because I called him a ‘conservative facho’. He is right: I still don’t understand how Argentines, being so intelligent, voted for someone who is not accurate,” he said on his X account, accusing Argentina’s leader of trying to “destroy Latin American integration.”

According to data from the INDEC national statistics bureau, Colombia was Argentina's 19th most important trading partner, with a total trade of US$1.682 billion. The latter banked a surplus of US$894 million, mainly through mining, energy, agro-industrial and agricultural exports.

US lawmaker in hot water

Colombia's Embassy in the United States on Thursday called attention to a Republican congresswoman who said she "agrees" with Milei's comments.

"Completely agree with the president @JMilei!," wrote the legislator María Elvira Salazar on the social network X.

She accompanied the message with a video montage comparing some of her statements from May 2022 with those made by Milei recently.

Petro "is a thief, a terrorist and a Marxist," Salazar declared when the now leftist leader was campaigning for the Presidency.

The Colombian eEmbassy reacted on the same social network, in which it made "a formal appeal" to the congresswoman.

It asked her to "in the spirit of mutual respect and consideration for the relationship" between the two countries "to return to the level of constructive debate, enriching democracy, worthy of strategic partners and long-standing allies."

– TIMES/AFP

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Source link : https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/amp/latin-america/colombia-expels-argentine-diplomats-over-milei-terrorist-remarks.phtml Author : Publish date : 2024-03-28 03:00:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source .