MADRID — Spain's foreign ministry on Wednesday condemned Argentine President Javier Milei after he used a visit to Madrid to call Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez a "dictator" and urge Spanish voters to oust his Socialist government in next month's election, AFP reported. Speaking at an economic forum breakfast hosted by the Nueva Economia Forum, Milei said: "You are suffering under the disgraceful dictator Pedro Sanchez," adding: "Kick the Socialists out, because you are the cradle of liberalism."
Source: AFP via Le Pays de France
Milei, on his seventh trip to Spain, also described Sanchez as an "unpresentable dictator" and referred to him as a "thief" and "corrupt", at a time when the Spanish leader is grappling with graft probes affecting relatives and former Socialist heavyweights — probes in which Sanchez has consistently defended the probity of his government and his party's funding, AFP reported. Government spokeswoman Elma Saiz reacted by requesting "respect" for the prime minister.
Spain's foreign ministry hits back
In a formal response, Spain's foreign ministry condemned what it called Milei's insults and defamatory remarks against Sanchez, Spain and its citizens, and denounced what it described as a call for the use of violence, saying Spain is a sovereign nation that rejects outside interference and attacks on its democratically elected institutions. The ministry said it was unworthy for the head of a friendly country to visit Spain solely to foster polarization and violence. Sanchez himself responded on X, posting that he was proud to be a "zurdo" — the Spanish term for a left-winger that Milei and the far right often use as an insult.
The row lands in the middle of Spain's election campaign. The main opposition conservative Popular Party (PP) is predicted to win the most seats in the November 29 general election but without a majority, potentially giving the far-right Vox party the decisive say in forming the next government, AFP reported. Milei did not meet Sanchez or King Felipe VI during the visit; he instead met Madrid regional president Isabel Diaz Ayuso of the PP and figures from Vox, saying: "I am clearly friends with (Vox leader) Santiago Abascal and with Isabel Diaz Ayuso, and I believe they have sound, positive ideas for pulling Spain out of its decline." Students protested his appearance at Madrid's Rey Juan Carlos University, Press TV reported.
It is the latest flare-up in a long feud. In 2024 a diplomatic crisis erupted after Milei called Sanchez's wife Begona Gomez "corrupt", prompting Madrid to recall its ambassador to Argentina for months, AFP reported. During the same Madrid trip, Milei also attacked Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, suggesting he could try to "steal" his country's presidential election on Sunday, the Buenos Aires Herald reported — a claim for which Milei offered no evidence.