Reprehensible words and a provocative tone from Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, accusing Begoña Gómez, wife of Pedro Sánchez, of being corrupt, have caused a crisis between the two governments. It started on Sunday in an event of the international extreme-right that brought together, in addition to the president of Spain's Vox, Santiago Abascal, the leader of the French National Front, Marine Le Pen, and the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who joined the gathering telematically. Milei's words set off a chain reaction, starting with the threat by Spain to withdraw its ambassador in Buenos Aires. This was followed by the request for an apology from the Argentine ambassador, made by the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, and the Argentine government's refusal to make any such retraction.
It goes without saying that Milei's words were out of order - and nor is this so strange in a politician whose discourse tends to be incendiary and to depart from the most basic norms - and Pedro Sánchez is right when he asserts that, between governments, the level of warmth is up to each one, but basic respect is obligatory. Having said that, why is there a widespread feeling that the Spanish prime minister is using the controversy as a launch pad for the Socialist campaign in the European elections of June 9th? Won't he be repeating, one more time, the pattern he has already used in the Catalan campaign to rise above any situation? On that occasion he stunned everyone with a fake resignation from the prime ministership, something that did not come to fruition and that we later learned was all a ruse.
I won't waste a minute talking about Milei because he seems a dangerous character with a corrosive way of speaking. But I am interested in how Sánchez uses any circumstance to make himself the protagonist of the plot. And how he has blown up the case of his wife, Begoña Gómez, in which the investigating judge of Madrid Court No 41, Juan Carlos Peinado, has allowed Vox to undertake a private prosecution. It was precisely the admission of the complaint of the extremist trade union Manos Limpias that triggered Sánchez's famous letter and the period of reflection on whether or not he should carry on in office. The public prosecutors had already requested the closing of the case, arguing that there were no signs of any crime.
Why is there a widespread feeling that the Spanish PM is using the controversy as a launch pad for the Socialist campaign in the European elections?
The independence movement is well aware of these practices, and how Manos Limpias has served as a lever in different cases against independentism, and so has Vox in the Democratic Tsunami case being heard by the National Audience judge, Manuel García-Castellón. Just take a dip into the newspaper library and you can find everything. From the complaints laid against the pro-independence leaders to the replies of the People's Party (PP) and Socialists (PSOE), happily walking arm in arm, praising Spain's judicial independence. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. And now it's too late because, as the saying goes, he who rides the tiger may find himself too afraid to ever get off.