Sanchez will travel to Switzerland where he will meet Miley for the first time since the diplomatic crisis began
The head of government, Pedro Sánchez, and the president of Argentina, Javier Miley, will meet this Saturday for the first time since the beginning of the diplomatic crisis that forced Spain to permanently withdraw its ambassador to Buenos Aires.
The event that will lead up to this coincidence is the international summit on Ukraine which will be held at the Bürgenstock hotel complex in Switzerland over the weekend, with delegations from ninety countries taking part, fifty of them led by their respective heads of state or government.
There is no forecast of a meeting between Sanchez and Miley at the summit, with both scheduled to attend plenary sessions for both this Saturday and Sunday.
The question is, will this coincidence lead to a formal greeting between the two countries amid the ongoing diplomatic crisis between them?
A crisis in which Spain has withdrawn its ambassador to Buenos Aires following words spoken by the Argentine president at an event organized by Vox in Madrid, in which he described Sánchez as one of the “bad people for power” and referred to him as “corrupt” to his wife, Begoña Gómez.
The government, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Alberes, demanded a public apology from Miley, and when he did not do so, announced the withdrawal of the ambassador, a decision that the Argentine President described as “nonsense”.
However, Sánchez defended the measure, maintaining that it was proportionate to the attack he believed Miley had carried out against Spain’s public institutions.
Amid the crisis, the Argentine President also met King Felipe VI when they both attended the inauguration of El Salvador President Naik Bukele on June 1.
When on that occasion the Emperor entered the hall of the National Palace of El Salvador where the investiture ceremony was held, he looked to his right and made a protocol gesture towards Miley and Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, who were seated next to him.
Miley had announced he would attend the summit in Switzerland, but the Argentine Presidency later informed he would not do so and would return to Buenos Aires after attending the G7 summit in Italy.
However, he ultimately decided to attend the summit on Ukraine, and on the sidelines of the event he plans to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will award him the Order of Freedom, one of the highest honors the country bestows on foreign leaders.
From Switzerland, the Argentine president will return to his country, but he maintains his intention to travel to Spain again on June 21 to receive the award from the Juan de Mariana Institute.