The Kingdom of Spain has recalled its Ambassador to Argentina in a rapidly escalating row over comments made in Madrid the Spanish capital by Argentine president Javier Milei.
President Milei said the decision was absurd.
“The ambassador will permanently stay in Madrid,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters on Tuesday, using stronger diplomatic parlance than in previous days.
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At a far-right rally on Sunday, he had described the wife of Spain’s left-wing prime minister Pedro Sánchez as “corrupt”, without directly naming Begoña Gómez.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares summoned Argentina’s ambassador Roberto Bosch the next day to demand a public apology from President Milei, but no action was taken.
Mr Albares described the case as unique in diplomatic history. “There is no precedent for a head of state who goes to another country’s capital to insult its institutions and flagrantly interfere in its internal affairs,” he said.
Spain had initially withdrawn its envoy, María Jesús Alonso, at the weekend for consultations but the foreign minister said on Tuesday that the ambassador would now remain in Madrid indefinitely. Argentina would no longer have a Spanish envoy, he said.