Chile’s opposition condemns Milei’s insults during visit and demands government response

Javier Milei’s speech in Santiago has triggered a political backlash in Chile after the Argentine president praised the country’s post-coup period and used insults against the left.

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The best antidote to these filthy leftists who deny reality is data.

Speaking at the Madrid Forum, Milei said, “The best antidote to these filthy leftists who deny reality is data.” He called Chile an emblematic place because its recent history showed the value of fighting a cultural battle, then referred to Salvador Allende’s overthrow and praised the stability and growth that followed.

Chile’s Socialist Party issued its “strongest rejection” of the remarks. It said Milei had insulted Allende, celebrated his overthrow and offended the memory of thousands of Chileans who became victims of the dictatorship. The party called it unacceptable for a foreign president to visit Chile and defend a coup against a democratically elected president while using insults and profanity against political opponents.

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It is unacceptable for a foreign president to come to Chile to defend a coup against a democratically elected president and to use epithets and profanity to refer to those who think differently.

The Socialists demanded a formal government rejection and said Chile’s national dignity, sovereignty and democratic history must be defended regardless of the governing coalition’s political orientation.

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Mr. President Kast: legitimate political differences are one thing, and allowing another president to trample our diplomacy, our sovereignty and our memory is something very different. Who benefits from all this? With the flag on your jacket, stand up for yourself.

Diego Ibáñez, a senator from the Broad Front, also criticized Kast. He said the president had allowed Milei to polarize Chile, insult opponents and attack Allende. Ibáñez linked the dispute to an earlier diplomatic clash that prompted Chile’s Foreign Ministry to protest Argentine comments by a senior Air Force officer about sovereignty in the Strait of Magellan. Argentina’s government and Kast declared that controversy over, while Kast said Argentina “does not and will never have sovereignty or control” over the bi-oceanic corridor. Milei was in Chile to attend the fifth Madrid Forum in Santiago.

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Argentina does not and will never have sovereignty or control.