MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Argentine FMs condemns Milei's decision regarding Papal invitation

Argentina will be represented by Ambassador Beltramino

Five former Argentine Foreign Ministers signed a declaration condemning their successor Gerardo Werthein's absence at Monday's ceremony with Pope Francis marking the 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship which Chile, whose top diplomat Alberto van Klaveren will be attending the event.

The original document was signed on Nov. 29, 1984, under then-Pope John Paul II, whose envoy, Cardinal Antonio Samore, had prevented a war between the two countries in 1978 over sovereignty in the Beagle Channel. It is in the same room at the Vatican Palace that the Argentine-born Francis is to be holding Monday's ceremony, attended on the Argentine side by the Ambassador to the Holy See, Luis Pablo Beltramino.

Signing the document objecting to Milei's decision were former Foreign Ministers Rafael Bielsa, Jorge Taiana, Felipe Solá, Santiago Cafiero, and Susana Malcorra, who condemned the decision “not to attend the commemorative act for the 40th anniversary of the Signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship” with Chile. Moreover, in their view, Milei's call was “incomprehensible” and “a gesture of such gratuitous disregard” to one of the “most transcendental events of our diplomacy in the last half a century.”

They recalled that the Treaty with Chile “not only put an end to a meaningless rivalry with a people as neighboring as brotherly but also opened a new chapter in the history” of both nations, where “cooperation, exchange and the building of mutual trust” were highlighted.

“The Government's decision is a clear disregard for the papal diplomacy that has played a key role as architect of peace in our region,” they added.

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