Colombia expels Argentine ambassador after Javier Milei calls the president a ‘murdering terrorist’

Colombia has retaliated after the outspoken Argentine leader called president Gustavo Petro a “terrorist”, “murderer” and “communist”.

The foreign ministry has expelled Argentina’s ambassador following president Javier Milei’s “denigrating” comments, it announced yesterday.

Mr Milei made the inflammatory remarks about Mr Petro, a former member of the long-disbanded M-19 Marxist guerilla group, in an interview with CNN’s Spanish-language network due to fully air on Sunday.

In a statement announcing the expulsion, Colombia’s foreign ministry said Mr Milei’s comments had “eroded the trust of our nation as well as offending the dignity of president Petro”.

Bogota had already withdrawn its ambassador to Buenos Aires, Camilo Romero, in January following a similar verbal assault from Mr Milei.

Mr Petro, 63, joined M-19 when he was a student. Regarded as social democratic in ideology, the group was founded in response to the apparent rigging of Colombia’s 1970 election.

Its most famous operation was the theft of the sword of Simon Bolivar – a figure who led a massive revolt against Spanish colonial rule in South America,

Critics have condemned Mr Milei’s “unstatesmanlike” and “counterproductive” verbal outbursts against his political opponents.

He has already launched broadsides against the Left wing leaders of Chile and Brazil. In his CNN interview, he also describes Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador as “ignorant”.

In the past Mr Milei has described a critical economist as a “mongol”, Pope Francis was branded a “representative of evil” and a female journalist was labelled a “donkey”.

Oscar Vidarte, an expert in international relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, warned that Mr Milei’s comments might win him likes on social media but risked leaving Argentina “isolated”.

“He’s not thinking about Argentina’s national interests,” said Mr Vidarte, recalling how Mr Milei had once vowed to break off diplomatic relations with communist China, Argentina’s second largest trading partner.

“For China, Milei is not an important actor. For Argentina, China is fundamental,” added Mr Vidarte.