President Javier Milei held a private bilateral meeting with France’s Emmanuel Macron at Casa Rosada on Sunday morning. Details of the meeting will not be released, and they did not make announcements nor hold a joint press conference.

This is the first time the French president has visited Milei in Argentina. However, the two had already met at the G7 summit in Italy in June and had a formal sit-down in Paris in July. On November 18 and 19, they will both participate in the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Macron and French First Lady Brigitte Macron arrived in Casa Rosada at 10:40 a.m. while a group of French citizens protested against the meeting outside. In the hall, Macron and Milei hugged, while Presidency Secretary Karina Milei kissed Brigitte Macron three times on the cheek. After exchanging some words, the group took a picture together — with Milei doing his usual thumbs-up pose.

A brief livestream on the Presidency YouTube channel showed the group entering one of the rooms of Casa Rosada so they could be formally introduced. There, they took another picture together and left to have their meeting in private.

Pictures released by the Argentine government revealed that Defense Minister Luis Petri and recently appointed Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein were present. French Ambassador to Argentina Ian Sielecki was also sitting at the table on Milei’s side.

The French embassy and the Argentine government’s press team did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment.

After the meeting, which lasted for at least one hour, Milei and Macron stepped out to the Casa Rosada balcony and greeted a group of people gathered at the Plaza de Mayo square in front of the governmental building, waving to both boos and cheers.

“France does not forget”

On Sunday morning, Macron visited the Church of the Holy Cross (Iglesia de la Santa Cruz) to pay homage to the 24 French victims of Argentina’s last military dictatorship, including nuns Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet. The nuns, along with other members of the church, were kidnapped and thrown alive in the Río de la Plata in what were known as the “death flights.”

Relatives of French victims of state terrorism in Argentina met with Macron, his wife Brigitte, and members of human rights organizations at the church, including Argentine Nobel Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.

“Macron asked each of us what our stories were and what we wanted to tell him,” said Eric Domergue, whose brother Yves was kidnapped and killed in 1976.

Domergue told the Herald that he and other family members expressed deep concerns about Milei’s apologist stance regarding systemic atrocities committed by the military junta and the dismantling of policies dedicated to redressing those crimes. Although Macron did not talk about his Argentine counterpart, he did use a phrase that has become popular in France to talk about human rights violations: “France does not forget.”

“He promised to mention all of our worries to Milei during his bilateral meeting,” Domergue said. He added that Macron said memory is very important and must not be left behind.

“The fact that he took the time to welcome the victims’ families and go to the church was a very significant gesture, taking into account he is in Argentina for such little time,” Domergue said. Macron arrived on Saturday evening and was expected to leave for Rio de Janeiro on Sunday afternoon.

Domergue also gave Macron a personal letter to express worry about a potential amnesty for dictatorship criminals endorsed by Milei’s government, particularly for convicted torturer Alfredo Astiz, known as “the Angel of Death.” Astiz infamously infiltrated the Church of the Holy Cross and “marked” the nuns for military officers to kidnap and kill them. The letter also mentioned Jorge Olivera, who murdered French model and political activist Marie-Anne Erize. 

Astiz was among the group of convicted repressors that six deputies from the ruling coalition La Libertad Avanza visited in federal prison in July. Olivera’s son, priest Javier Olivera Ravasi, organized the visit, as well as other meetings and chat groups. WhatsApp screenshots shared by Lourdes Arrieta, one of the deputies who participated in the visit, appeared to show that the goal of those talks was to discuss potential ways to give them the benefit of home imprisonment or even annul their convictions.

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