Spain announced this Tuesday that it will withdraw its ambassador to Buenos Aires, María Jesús Alonso, after controversial statements by the President of Argentina, Javier Milei, at a far-right convention - where he called the wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez a "corrupt woman". 

After announcing that "there will be no Spanish ambassador in Buenos Aires", after a meeting of the Council of Ministers, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, explained that the "activity of the embassy will continue at the level of the chargé d'affaires".

"When the diplomatic crisis ends, Spain will have to appoint a new ambassador", the minister added, saying that "Spanish institutions do not conduct foreign policy with tweets or participate in any kind of spectacle".

The response came from Argentina through the voice of the President himself, Javier Milei, who, in statements to the newspaper La Nación, stated that he would keep the Spanish ambassador in the country and that the position taken by Pedro Sánchez's government shows that "socialists are capable of anything". He added: "It is typical nonsense from an arrogant socialist". 

As for the 'non-withdrawal' of the Spanish ambassador from his country, Milei stressed: "If Sánchez is making a serious mistake, I will not be so foolish as to repeat it. We will keep everything as it was before, they are the ones who are not up to par with international politics". 

In the same interview, the President of Argentina also stressed that he did not mention the name of Begoña, the wife of the Spanish Prime Minister, during the (controversial) speech on Sunday at the convention. "He felt it was for them, the problem is his [Sánchez], it was a phrase that did not contain names. From there arises a senseless diplomatic escalation".

It all started when, on Sunday, Milei referred to "cursed and cancerous socialism", before adding: "What a bunch of people screwed to power. Even when you have a corrupt woman, you get dirty and take five days to think about it".

It should be recalled that the socialist Pedro Sánchez said at the end of April that he was considering resigning due to attacks on his family, especially his wife, based on disinformation campaigns. After five days of reflection, he decided to stay in office.

This weekend's trip was the first Javier Milei made to Spain after taking office, but he did not meet with any authorities in the country. The Argentine government explained last week that Milei intends to return to Spain in June and will then request official hearings.

Read Also: "I am in another league". Milei attacks and calls Sánchez a "coward" (Portuguese version)