It seems to be a law of averages in politics: if things are not going so well at home, it is always handy to look for a foreign enemy, to get the population behind you after all. This happened again last week in Spain, where Argentine president Milei was a guest at a congress of the radical right-wing Vox. Things have not been going well between Milei and Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez for some time. Pedro Sánchez's explicit support for Sergio Massa, Milei's socialist opponent during the Argentine election campaign in October last year was already a harbinger that relations between Javier Milei, should he win, and the leftist coalition led by Sánchez would not be the most fraternal.
However, no one could have imagined the choppy waters into which bilateral relations have since fallen.
A fortnight ago, it was Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente who told an audience of students that he had seen Javier Milei in a television interview in which he had used "substances".
All hands on deck at President Milei's cabinet who screamed "slander and defamation " and Interior Minister Guillermo Francos felt that Oscar Puente should resign for his unfortunate statements, an option that the PP opposition of Pedro Sánchez's government had demanded from the start.
Sánchez did not punish or call his minister to order.
Last Sunday, Milei went a step further. In his communiqué rejecting Minister Puente's statements, he had advised the Spanish prime minister to deal with more pressing matters, such as the investigation into alleged influence exerted by his wife Begonia over subsidies to rescue airline Air Europa.
In his impassioned speech against socialism, Milei perhaps forgot to speak in conditional mode, as the allegations against Begonia have still not been deemed proven.
As a result, Sanchez was quite taken aback and immediately recalled the Spanish ambassador from Buenos Aires. The riot is a nice distraction from the internal problems of both Milei and Sanchez. The former is struggling with massive street protests in Argentina, directed by the unions, as a result of his far-reaching austerity measures aimed at getting the Argentine economy back on track after decades of muddling through under Peronist rule. Sanchez, for his part, is struggling in Spain not only with the case surrounding his wife Begonia, but also with his deal with the Catalans and Basques around amnesty, which has come under fire not only from the opposition, but also from various factions within his own party and governing coalition. Moreover, the Spanish-Argentine relationship still involves the historical fact that the Spanish royal family's wealth is largely due to silver looted from Argentina in the 16th century (hence 'argent' in Argentina, which comes from the Latin Argentum, silver). To top it off, Sanchez also stands alone within the EU in recognising Palestine as an autonomous state, something Spain never granted to the Catalans. The riot with Milei therefore comes as an unexpected treasure trove of silver in his lap, barely two weeks before the European elections.