Argentina’s president plans to meet Spain’s far-right party in Madrid

Hundreds of protesters were gathering in Madrid on Sunday to protest against the Argentinian president Javier Milei on the second day of his three day visit to Spain.

Typically, a visiting head of state might try to mend fences through diplomacy. Not Milei. The outspoken economist has no plans to meet Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez during his stay in the Spanish capital, nor the Spanish king, nor any other government official. Instead, he will attend a far-right summit on Sunday hosted by Sánchez’s fiercest political opponent, the Vox party.

These demonstrations represent not just a local response but a global protest, with participation from Argentinian citizens living in Spain. Many see the meeting in Madrid as a significant step in the international consolidation of fascism.

Even before his three-day visit to Madrid began on Friday, Milei stirred controversy by accusing the socialist government of bringing “poverty and death” to Spain and commenting on corruption allegations against the prime minister’s wife.

This unorthodox visit is business as usual for Milei, a favourite of the global far-right who has bonded with tech billionaire Elon Musk and praised former U.S. President Donald Trump. Earlier this year, during a trip to the United States, Milei avoided the White House and instead spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where he railed against abortion and socialism and shared a hug with Trump.

The Vox summit on Sunday aims to gather far-right figures from across Europe to rally the party’s base ahead of the European parliamentary elections in June. Milei described his attendance as a “moral imperative.” 

Tensions between Milei and Sánchez began since the Spanish prime minister declined to congratulate the libertarian economist on his surprising election victory last November. 

And hostility escalated earlier this month when one of Sánchez’s ministers suggested Milei had taken narcotics. The Argentine presidency responded with an unusually harsh official statement accusing Sánchez’s government of “endangering the middle class with its socialist policies that bring nothing but poverty and death.”

The lengthy statement also accused Sánchez of having “more important problems to deal with, such as the corruption accusations against his wife.” The allegations of influence peddling and corruption against Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, brought by a right-wing group, had prompted Sánchez, one of Europe’s longest-serving Socialist leaders, to consider stepping down.