Argentina’s sovereignty claim over the Malvinas Islands was absent from the joint declaration issued by Mercosur members during a bloc summit in Paraguay Monday. President Javier Milei was the only leader of the South American bloc who failed to attend the meeting. He was replaced by Foreign Minister Diana Mondino.
It is the first time since 1996 that the Malvinas issue has not been mentioned in the summit’s final communiqué, when Mercosur made the first joint declaration supporting Argentina’s claim, according to opposition politicians and former functionaries.
Milei’s Spokesman Manuel Adorni said that Milei was not going to participate in the Mercosur summit because of “scheduling issues.”
“The Argentine Foreign Ministry should give urgent explanations on the absence of the sovereignty claim over the Malvinas Islands in the Mercosur States Declaration,” said Gabriel Fuks, former ambassador to Ecuador and current member of the Mercosur Parliament.
Fuks added that, in diplomacy, such claims should be maintained systematically, and demanded to know whether “there was an explicit order to omit [Argentina’s] claim” from Milei’s government. “Only [former President] Fernando De La Rúa failed to attend a head of state summit during a political and social crisis” in 2001, he pointed out.
Former Malvinas Secretary Guillermo Carmona added: “In foreign policy, excesses have consequences. Milei and Mondino insult, omit and offend, and Argentina suffers what comes after that.”
Former Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero also criticized the decision. “Stop with the show, president. It is impossible to honor the [Malvinas war] veterans if we don’t call for sovereignty over the islands,” he said. On Tuesday, to celebrate the anniversary of Argentina’s independence, the government organized a military parade led by Malvinas war veterans.
The Argentine Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Milei’s absence was the elephant in the room during the Mercosur summit. “Not only the message is important, but also the messenger,” Uruguay President Luis Lacalle Pou, who will lead the bloc during the next year, said during his speech on Monday. “If Mercosur is so important, all presidents should be here.” He did, however, congratulate the Argentine government for its “state reform” initiated when Milei took office.
“It is immensely foolish that a country as important as Argentina is not participating in a Mercosur summit,” Brazil President Lula da Silva told press after the meeting on Monday. However, he recognized that “what matters is that the Argentine people have participation in Mercosur.”
Milei and Da Silva have an ongoing feud due to the Argentine president consistently calling the Brazilian leader “corrupt” and “communist.” Milei visited Brazil over the weekend to speak at the Brazilian version of the far-right Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), led by former President Jair Bolsonaro. Milei met with the Brazilian former leader, who is banned from seeking elected office until 2030 for attacks on democracy, and under investigation for other alleged crimes. He did not meet with Lula or any other Brazilian officials.
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Last week, Adorni claimed that the “astronomical” ideological gap between the two South American leaders was not the reason they would not get together. “We would never miss an event because of that,” he said.
Mondino spoke during the summit representing Argentina and clarified that the country has no intention of leaving the bloc. She called for reducing Mercosur’s trade regulations. “There’s an excess in regulations that affect trade within the bloc and with the rest of the world,” she said, likening the bloc to “an immobilizing corset.”
Days ago, Bolivia recalled its ambassador to Argentina after Milei called the June 26 coup attempt “fraudulent.” Mondino referred to this during her speech, but did not directly mention Bolivia. “No coup d’etat is ever acceptable, no attack against democracy is acceptable,” she said. The coup attempt was also not mentioned in the bloc’s final declaration.
Editorial disclaimer
Although the UK refers to the Malvinas territory as the “Falklands Islands,” Argentina strongly contests this name. The Buenos Aires Herald refers to the islands as the Malvinas Islands.