Argentina: Milei blasts Madrid after 'substances' comment

Madrid's Foreign Ministry denounced a verbal attack on Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez by Argentine President Javier Milei on Saturday.

"The Spanish government categorically rejects the unfounded words... which do not reflect the relations between the two countries and their fraternal people," Spanish officials said.

The Foreign Ministry's declaration came in response to blistering accusations leveled by the Argentine president in an official statement claiming Sanchez' policies were bringing "death and poverty" to the Spanish people.

Posting on the social media platform X, Milei accused the center-left Sanchez government of "endangering Spanish women by allowing illegal immigration," as well as, "endangering the unity of the kingdom, by sealing an agreement with the separatists and leading Spain to its ruin" — a reference to a deal Sanchez struck with regional Basque and Catalan parties to form a government.

Milei's words, in turn, appeared to be in reaction to comments made by Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente on Friday. Speaking at a panel discussion in the city of Salamanca, Puente suggested that Milei had "ingested substances" during last year's Argentine election campaign. 

Far-right populist Milei's anti-immigrant statements dovetail with those of Spain's opposition VOX party, which the Argentine has publicly supported.

Milei is expected in Spain in two weeks to participate in an event organized by VOX ahead of upcoming European elections.

In February, both Milei and VOX leader Santiago Abascal appeared alongside former US President Donald Trump — as well as a host of other far-right Latin American, North American and European politicians — during the annual conservative confab CPAC in Washington, D.C.

js/dj (AFP, Reuters)