Javier Milei maintains his offensive of insults against Pedro Sánchez after his visit to Madrid. The Argentine president again calls the head of the Spanish Executive a "thief", "liberticide" and "authoritarian" in an interview published this Thursday by 'El Observador', recorded on Wednesday before returning to Buenos Aires. In that conversation, he also justifies his disqualifications of a Spanish journalist and asserts his intervention in the political debate ahead of the November 29 elections.
"Sánchez is a thief, he has hundreds of corruption cases and is constantly trying to interfere with justice," says Milei, who again uses Begoña Gómez to attack the president. In that response, he does not identify these alleged cases nor does he provide documentation to support his accusation. His words extend Wednesday's statements, when he called Sánchez an "unpresentable dictator" and called for the socialists to be "kicked out" of power.
In the interview with Fernando González, director of 'El Observador España', the far-right leader also accuses Sánchez of controlling Congress and the Judiciary and maintains that he meets the characteristics of an authoritarian leader. He compares him to Argentine Kirchnerism and presents his actions in Spain as a "moral duty" to combat socialism, to which he attributes an international project of power aimed at illicit enrichment.
Milei also extends the disqualifications to socialists and to the media he considers close to them. He calls them "failures" and "sad" and uses the expression "his media slaves". Asked about the possibility that his visit might mobilize Sánchez's electorate, he assures that this eventual effect leaves him "absolutely unconcerned". He asserts his experience in the so-called cultural battle to justify that he will continue to intervene against the Spanish left.
The Spanish Government had already responded on Wednesday through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which expressed its "most energetic condemnation" of Milei's "insults and slanders". The department headed by José Manuel Albares defended that Spain does not accept external interference or attacks on its democratically elected institutions and accused the Argentine president of fostering polarization between Spaniards and between two sister countries.
Insults to the press and praise for the right
Milei also reaffirms the treatment he gave to Julia Molina, a journalist from Cadena SER, when she asked him if his visit was uncomfortable for the PP and Vox. On Wednesday, he disqualified her by alluding to her intellectual capacity and, in the interview published today, he denies having been involved in an altercation. "If you ask me a stupid question, I'm going to tell you," he maintains. He adds that he doesn't find it "that serious" and attributes the rejection of his words to the fact that there are "a lot of glass people."
The Federation of Journalists' Associations of Spain (FAPE) had already condemned the personal attacks on Wednesday and demanded "respect for information professionals". The organization considers that journalists asked questions of public interest and that a head of state is expected to respond with respect, even if they are uncomfortable. It also denounced that the disqualifications seek to discredit journalistic work and intimidate those who must hold rulers accountable.
The tone changes when talking about the Spanish right. Milei vindicates his relationship with Isabel Díaz Ayuso, with whom he met in Madrid, and with Santiago Abascal, with whom he spoke via video call. Regarding Feijóo, he acknowledges that he has not yet spoken directly with him, but states that "he has my respect" for the battle he is waging against socialism. In addition, he assures that the Vox leader's entourage has maintained contacts with his Minister of Deregulation, Federico Sturzenegger, to work on a deregulation agenda.
Sánchez had responded on Wednesday both on social media and at the socialist rally in Burgos. In addition to sharing a song by Lali Espósito and asserting his pride in being left-wing, he linked Milei with the leaders of the PP and Vox due to their austerity policies. "You are all the same gang," he affirmed, before warning that Feijóo and Abascal would apply the Argentine president's model in Spain if they came to power after 29N.
