Milei calls the Colombian president a “murderer” and a “terrorist”. Argentine diplomats expelled from Colombia

Petro fought for 12 years in M-19, an urban nationalist guerrilla, before signing peace in 1990 and entering politics. In August 2022, he came to power as Colombia’s first left-wing president.

Relations with Argentina have historically been stable, but have deteriorated since the arrival to power of the ultra-liberal Milei in December 2023.

“It is not the first time that Mr. Milei has offended the Colombian president, affecting the historic fraternal relations” between the two countries, recalled the Colombian Foreign Ministry.

The Colombian ambassador to Argentina, Camilo Romero, has been in consultations since the end of January, when Petro reacted to another interview in which Milei called him a “murderous communist who is sinking Colombia”.

Last year, still as a candidate, Milei stated on Colombian radio that “a socialist is rubbish” and “human excrement”.

Petro quoted this statement on the social network X the following day, adding that “this is what Hitler said”. Three days later, asked about the Colombian president’s comment in another radio interview, Milei said: “For me, nothing surprises coming from a socialist […] That’s part of the decadence.”

Afterwards, Petro described Milei’s victory in the November elections as a “sad moment for Latin America”.

According to information from CNN this Wednesday, Milei also responded to criticism from the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador: “It’s an honor that an ignorant person like López Obrador speaks ill of me, praises me,” he said.

The ultraliberal blames the current Peronist opposition for the country’s economic crisis, which ended 2023 with inflation of 211% per year.

In 2023, Colombia was Argentina’s nineteenth largest trading partner, with total trade of 1.682 billion dollars (about 1.559 billion euros, and an Argentine favorable balance of 894 million dollars (about 828 million euros). euros) for mineral, energy, agro-industrial and agricultural exports, which last year totaled 1.283 billion dollars (around 1.189 billion euros) according to the Indec statistics institute.