President Alberto Fernández stressed this Tuesday afternoon that “Chile has a great chancellor and a great president, and it has a government that we love and respect very much, with which we work very well”, and also stated that “it does not assign any relevance to it”. to the leak of a recorded audio of Chilean Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola during a private conversation with her collaborators, in which the diplomat spoke about how to respond to previous criticisms of the Argentine ambassador in Santiago, Rafael Bielsa, about the cancellation of a mining project.
In statements to Télam, the head of state absolutely minimized the episode, which he defined as mere “gossip”. generated by the “misuse of conversations that are private, with some comments that one makes with the freedom of not feeling recorded”.
“Argentina and Chile are called to work together, as we have worked in this meeting”added the President when referring to his participation and that of his Chilean counterpart Gabriel Boric in the VII Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) that is being held this Tuesday in Buenos Aires, and He predicted that both countries “are called to grow together, as we are going to continue growing and we are called to be brothers, as we are.”
Unity and brotherhood. pic.twitter.com/qH0ZXH9Dut
– Alberto Fernandez (@alferdez) January 24, 2023
After praising the trans-Andean chancellor Urreloja and expressing his affection for Boric himself, Fernández assured “he does not have the slightest idea what they are talking about“referring to the incident of the filtration.
Thus, he downplayed what some media described as a “scandal” with alleged diplomatic consequences in the relationship between the two countries, attributed to the decision of the Chilean government to cancel the Dominga mining project.
This mining exploitation, in its initial stage of projection, had been thought to be linked to the development of the Agua Negra border crossing, which in turn would have multiplied bilateral trade with Argentina.
“I have the highest respect for the Chilean chancellor (Urrejola), just as I have the greatest affection for the President.”remarked this Tuesday afternoon the head of the Executive on the figure of his Chilean counterpart Boric.
