Colombia’s Interior Minister Luis Fernando Velasco accused Argentine President Javier Miley on Thursday of making “serious matters” wrong with his insults to his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, and demanded an apology for his statements.
“Mr. Javier Milei, you made a serious mistake and you owe an apology to the Colombian people and an explanation to your people, Argentina is much more than your courage,” the minister said on his X account.
Velasco added that “cheeky attitude“a village bully may be profitable in a low-level election debate, but that should never be the behavior of a head of state.”
“In Colombia, we respect the Argentine people, but we do not accept the treatment that their president gives to our president, it is the result of a democratic process that we respect and ensure respect for,” the interior minister added.
The crisis in bilateral relations deepened on Wednesday when a preview of an interview Miley gave to CNN en Español was broadcast in which he called Petra a “terrorist killer”, statements to which Colombia’s foreign ministry responded by ordering the expulsion of diplomats.. Argentines.
In the interview, which will be broadcast on Sunday, Milei called his Mexican counterpart Andrés Manuel López Obrador “ignorant.”
“The government of Colombia orders the expulsion of ddiplomats of the Argentine Embassy in Colombia”the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, without specifying how many people will be affected by this measure or when they will have to leave the country.
“This is not the first time that Mr. Milei has insulted the Colombian president, affecting the historic relations of brotherhood between Colombia and Argentina,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminded of the importance of the 200-year bond between the countries, from the beginning of their diplomatic relations, which date back to August 3, 1823. years.
Support for Petro
Colombia’s decision to expel Argentina’s diplomats was widely supported in the political sector, where various voices dismissed Miley’s repeated insults to Peter as the third time this year that Argentina’s president has referred to his colleague in an insulting manner.
“Disagreements between presidents are inevitable. And perhaps necessary. But turning to insults is inadmissible. And as a Colombian, I cannot accept Miley’s infamous treatment of Peter,” said Senator Humberto de la Calle in X.
The president of the Colombian Congress, Iván Name, issued a statement for his part in which he rejected Miley’s “disrespect” towards the head of state and concluded: “I once again wish for the brotherhood of our peoples.”
“President Petro represents our country and sovereigntyso as a Colombian I cannot accept President Milei’s insults. The welfare of its citizens and fraternity between states must prevail over personal views between rulers,” said the President of the Colombian-American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), María Claudia Lacouture.
Also, the mayor of Bogotá, Carlos Fernando Galán, spoke out on the matter, indicating that “political differences between presidents, under no circumstances, can lead to expressions like those of the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, about the president of Colombia. These conditions are unacceptable.” .
“Apart from slandering our president Gustavo Petr, President Milei seriously insults our nation, which democratically elected him as head of state. The decision of our government is not against the Argentine people, whom we love and admire, it is against the one who governs it today with an authoritarian attitude,” they wrote. are left-wing senators Iván Cepeda.
Quarrels between presidents
During the last Argentine presidential campaign, Petro expressed several times his opposition to Milei, who in recent months has not wasted questions from journalists to lash out at the Colombian president.
For example, on January 26, the Colombian government summoned its ambassador to Argentina, Camilo Romero, for consultations, after Milei said in an interview with journalist Patricia Janiot that Petro was a “murderous communist who is sinking” the country.
A month later, on February 24, the Colombian government once again expressed its “strong rejection” of what it described as Miley’s “irresponsible statements” for a new offense against Petro, whom it called “a deadly plague for Colombians themselves”answering the question of the NTN24 channel journalist.
For his part, Petro classified his current colleague’s triumph as “sad for Latin America” after comparing his ideas to Hitler’s during Argentina’s election campaign.
Source: Panama America
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
