MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei's Office condemns slanderous statements by Spanish official

PM Sánchez has more urgent matters to focus on, the Office of the Argentine President said in a statement

The Government of Argentina was angered Friday after Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente said President Javier Milei was “ingesting substances.” Casa Rosada replied with a communiqué outlining the alleged involvement of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's wife in a case of corruption that nearly led to his resignation and insisted Madrid should remain focused on those affairs.

“There are very bad people who, being themselves, have reached the top,” said Puente at an event organized by the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). “Milei, for example, Trump.... I don't know if they will have advisors. Milei, of course, if he has advisors, I don't think he listens much,” he went on. “I have seen Milei on TV and as I was listening to him -I do not know in what state and prior to the ingestion or after the ingestion of what substances- I said: 'It is impossible for him to win the elections,” the Spanish official said in the city of Salamanca.

Hence, in Buenos Aires, the President's Office expressed its “repudiation of the slander and insults made by the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility of Spain, Óscar Puente, against Javier Milei.”

“Pedro Sánchez's government has more important problems to deal with, such as the accusations of corruption against his wife, a matter that even led him to consider his resignation.”

Friday's Argentine President's Office's statement went viral on social media.

“Pedro Sánchez has endangered the unity of the Kingdom, making pacts with separatists and leading to the dissolution of Spain; he has endangered Spanish women by allowing the illegal immigration of those who threaten their physical integrity; and he has endangered the middle class with his socialist policies that only bring poverty and death,” the document also noted.

“For the good of the Kingdom of Spain, we hope that Justice will act swiftly to clarify such a corruption scandal that directly affects the stability of your Nation and, consequently, relations with our country,” the statement went on.

“Argentines chose to change the model that brought us misery and decadence, the same model applied by the Spanish Socialist Workers Party in their country,” Milei's Office insisted.

The Argentine President is scheduled to travel to Spain in the next few days to receive the Juan de Mariana Institute award, alongside Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa and other personalities. He also plans to meet with Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox party, who attended the Libertarian leader's inauguration in Buenos Aires on Dec. 10, 2023, and with members of the Partido Popular (PP). In 2022, Milei had already participated in events staged by these conservative groups. On the other hand, Sánchez reportedly never congratulated Milei on his electoral win in November last year.

Puente is a former spokesperson of Sánchez's during the latter's candidacy for the party leadership in 2017. He has been involved in other scandals and controversies.