Javier Milei skips the inauguration chaired by King Felipe VI after not being able to meet with him

The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, has been absent from the opening ceremony of the XXX Ibero-American Summit chaired by the King, Felipe VI at the Teatro Real in Madrid despite the fact that he arrived in Madrid in time to be present at the event, delegating the representation of his country to the chancellor, Pablo Quirno.

Last Friday, the Argentine Government sent a formal request for a meeting between the president and the King to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"There has been no response" so far, said the sources, who do not hide their discomfort at this point, given that Felipe VI is holding bilateral meetings with other leaders attending the summit, such as those from Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras.

The King's entire official agenda has to be endorsed by the Government, so it would have been Moncloa and not Zarzuela that would not have given approval for the first formal meeting between the two to finally take place in Spain.

The sources consulted have explained that if Milei has decided to travel to Madrid for the occasion, after having made what was his seventh visit on October 21, it was because it was Felipe VI who formally invited him to come to the summit and also told him on several occasions that it was very important that he and Argentina were present.

Milei, one of the few Ibero-American leaders who have traveled to attend the summit, landed at the Torrejón de Ardoz air base at 4:10 p.m., as planned, a priori with enough margin to be able to attend the opening ceremony.

The Argentine president plans to meet tonight in the capital with the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, whom he did not have the opportunity to meet on his previous visit as he was away from Madrid for pre-campaign.

On Thursday morning he will attend the plenary session of the summit, where he will be received upon arrival by both the King and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the head of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), Andrés Allamand, so the long-awaited image of both presidents greeting each other should finally occur.

Clash with Sánchez

On his last trip, Milei once again lashed out, as he has done on previous occasions, against Sánchez, whom he called a "dictator", "corrupt" and a "thief". In addition, he encouraged "kicking the socialists out of power" and hoped that Spaniards "will not commit suicide by voting socialist" in the November 29 elections.

Regarding Felipe VI, the Argentine president clarified that he has "an excellent relationship" since they have seen each other at the inaugurations of other leaders, such as those of Peru and Colombia, as well as during his investiture in December 2023, and he hoped to have the "possibility of visiting him here" on another of his visits. "It is not a question of will but of the impossibility of agendas," he pointed out.