Isabel Díaz Ayuso received Javier Milei this Wednesday afternoon with an embrace at the Canal de Isabel II facilities in Madrid. The regional president and the Argentine president have once again shown their closeness hours after the ultra leader insulted Pedro Sánchez and called to "kick out the socialists," in the midst of the pre-campaign for the general elections on November 29.
The meeting, scheduled for five in the afternoon, was held behind closed doors, without press access or a subsequent press conference. The Community of Madrid reserved coverage for its own communication services, which distributed photographs and a video of the greeting and the start of the meeting. This first release of images was not accompanied by a public announcement of agreements.
Ayuso's reception comes after a morning of attacks by Milei on the President of the Government during an informative breakfast organized by Nueva Economía Fórum. The Argentine has called Sánchez an "unpresentable dictator" and "thieving delinquent", and has used his intervention to support his Spanish political allies and demand the socialists' removal from power.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed its "energetic condemnation" of the "insults and slanders" and the call for the use of violence. José Manuel Albares' department has considered it "unworthy" for a head of state of a sister nation to visit Spain to foster polarization and has rejected interference and attacks against its democratic institutions.
The Canal de Isabel II hosts the meeting while the encampment in Sol continues
Ayuso received Milei in the space that her Government now defines as an "alternative and complementary" office to that of the Real Casa de Correos. The Canal de Isabel II facilities, located in Chamberí, also hosted this Wednesday the meeting of the Governing Council, which usually takes place in Puerta del Sol.
The spokesperson for the regional Executive, Miguel Ángel García, has justified the occasional use of these facilities due to maintenance and adaptation works at the Presidency headquarters. The explanation comes after the regional Government on Tuesday alleged security difficulties to carry out institutional activity in Sol, where the housing encampment continues. The Community maintains that the president keeps her office in the Real Casa de Correos.
The meeting leaves Ayuso as the PP leader who has led the institutional reception of Milei during this visit, while Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal have maintained their pre-campaign agendas outside Madrid. The Argentine president did visit the Disenso Foundation, linked to the far-right Vox, where he met with Ignacio Garriga and Jorge Martín Frías, and held a video call with Abascal.
The closeness between Ayuso and Milei has a notable precedent in the International Medal of the Community of Madrid that the president presented to him on June 21, 2024. That tribute was held at the Real Casa de Correos in the midst of a diplomatic crisis over the Argentine president's attacks on Sánchez's inner circle. The distinction was officially justified by the historical, cultural, linguistic, and economic ties between Madrid and Argentina.
