"I want you to know that my heart is with you and that today, by chance, physically, I have been in my country defending tooth and nail the achievements of this administration," said Javier Milei in his participation via videoconference from Buenos Aires in the event organized in Madrid by Vox, the party of Santiago Abascal, a friend of the President.
Milei was presented at the Vistalegre Palace, on the outskirts of the center of the Spanish capital where Vox usually organizes its events, as the leader “who makes any leftist cry”.
Next to an Argentine flag and a lectern against a background that read Casa Rosada, Javier Milei read a speech that lasted less than five minutes.
He began by thanking Abascal, who also chairs Patriotas, the political force that brings together the European far right: “He always welcomed me even when everyone turned their backs on me,” said Milei.
His words then focused on the murder of Charlie Kirk, the activist close to US President Donald Trump who was shot last Wednesday on a university campus in Utah.
Milei referred to Kirk as a “martyr for freedom”.
During the event, a tribute was paid to Charlie Kirk, who was murdered this week in the United States. Photo: EFE
“Unfortunately, this act (the murder) was only further graphic proof of what the left truly is in its purest form: hatred and resentment,” the president read.
"Paradoxically, this attack was perpetrated and celebrated by the same people who accuse us of being violent, and all we do is vehemently express the truth of our arguments," Milei added.
And he emphasized: “Both Kirk and any of us, the leftists and the progressives call us ultras or extreme, when in reality we are like that because we do not want criminals taking over our streets, we do not want an migrant invasion, we do not want them to burn and destroy our cities and we are not going to accept that they shoot us for telling them what we think.”
"Ultimately," Milei added,"if they attack us, it's because we're doing the right thing and we're close to defeating them on the political, social, cultural, and economic levels."
The president concluded his speech by stating once again that "victory in battle does not depend on the number of soldiers, but on the forces that come from heaven." He emphasized this before closing his remarks with a "Long live Argentina! Long live Spain! Long live Vox! Long live the Patriots! Long live freedom, damn it!"
Abascal took the microphone to thank Milei for her participation."We want to send you all our strength, all our encouragement at this time when many are banding together to try to harm you. You have our full support," the Vox leader told her.
Last minute cancellation
Milei had received Abascal's invitation to attend the event in Madrid at the end of July and confirmed his attendance for this Sunday, as he did for the last two editions of Vox's Viva festival, in 2023 and 2024. However, last Sunday's electoral blow and reports of corruption within the government forced him to cancel his trip to Madrid, where he had planned to give a talk to students at IE University on Friday the 12th.
"Milei canceled her trip to Spain midweek after suffering a defeat in the Buenos Aires provincial elections, while her sister, Karina Milei, is accused of alleged corruption," the Spanish press reported on Sunday.
With few speakers on stage, the most talked-about absence was Milei's.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who streamed last year, sent a recorded message this Sunday.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Venezuelan opposition leader Corina Machado, former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, and José Antonio Kast, leader of Chile's Republican Party, among others, did the same.
Among those present were the mayor of Lima, Rafael López Aliaga, and the leader of the Portuguese Chega party, André Ventura.
It was on the stage of last year's Vox event that Javier Milei improvised an allusion to the wife of Spanish President Pedro Sánchez that triggered a diplomatic crisis between Argentina and Spain, resulting in no Spanish ambassador in Buenos Aires for more than five months.
It was when Milei called Begoña Gómez, Sánchez's wife,"corrupt." She is being investigated for several alleged crimes.
Madrid. Correspondent.
D.D.
