MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei sacks Mondino for not siding with US against Cuba

Milei was hoping to align Buenos Aires with Washington and Tel Aviv but Argentina's diplomatic team at the UN stuck to old policies

Argentine President Javier Milei sacked Foreign Ministry Diana Mondino Wednesday after Argentina voted in line with most countries at the United Nations (UN) against the US trade embargo on Cuba in force since 1962. The 32nd consecutive non-binding resolution in the same regard was passed with 187 votes in favor, two against (USA and Israel) and one abstention (Moldova). Mondino will be replaced by the current ambassador to the United States, Gerardo Werthein.

Milei was hoping to align Buenos Aires with Washington and Tel Aviv and already in May there were signs in that direction when Buenos Aires opposed Palestine's accession as a full UN member state. The Libertarian administration's stance would also be a natural consequence of its all-out rivalry with Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua.

But contrary to Milei's wishes Argentina endorsed a document drafted by Havana defending “the sovereign equality of States, non-intervention and non-interference in their internal affairs and the freedom of international trade and navigation, enshrined in numerous international legal instruments.” It also “urged all States to refrain from enacting and applying laws and measures that contravene them, urging those who still impose them to repeal such measures.”

The US-imposed embargo on Cuba has proven ineffective tumbling down the 1959 Communist revolution making the island a one-party country where opponents are either jailed or in exile. What it did achieve was to give the Cuban regime an excuse for every shortcoming and hardship the citizenry must endure. According to Havana, between March 2023 and February 2024, the embargo resulted in losses worth US$ 5.056,8 billion.

Tensions between Casa Rosada and the San Martín Palace had mounted over the past few months. Milei himself appointed some Foreign Ministry officials and a Presidential message was spread warning career diplomats to “accompany the ideas of freedom or step aside.”

After making his decision Wednesday, Milei shared a social media posting from PRO Congresswoman Sabrina Ajmechet saying that she was “proud of a government that does not bank or is not an accomplice of dictators. Long live #CubaLibre.”

In Buenos Aires diplomatic circles it was recalled that Cuba had always backed Argentina's sovereignty claim over the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands and that such an endorsement could be the reason for Argentina's UN vote.

Another rift happened last week when a communiqué used the word “Falklands” which the Argentine government does not recognize. (See also: Argentina to sack whoever used the “Falklands” in an official document )

Werthein stems from the business group bearing his family name and has investments in agriculture, energy, real estate, telecommunications, the food industry, and healthcare. During Mauricio Macri's government, he headed the Argentine Olympic Committee (COA). Three years ago he left Grupo Werthein and is a shareholder in the newspaper El Cronista and the Uruguayan multimedia El Observador, including its radio station in Buenos Aires.