Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero communicated in the last hours with his counterpart from Chile, Andrés Allamand, to whom he reaffirmed that the Argentine government “will work with the government that is the winner once the electoral process ends” in the neighboring country.
According to official sources, the communication was given on Monday afternoon, after they met the public statements of the Argentine ambassador to Chile, Rafael Bielsa, who described José Antonio Kast, the winner of the Chilean presidential elections, as “anti-Argentine” and “xenophobic”.
On Monday afternoon the Chilean Foreign Ministry issued a statement in which it questioned Bielsa’s statements.
“The Government of Chile rejects the statements of Ambassador Rafael Bielsa. These expressions represent an unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of Chile and violate norms of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the statement said.
He also indicated that the Government of Chile “reiterates its permanent willingness to maintain the best political and diplomatic relations with the Argentine Republic, within the framework of the historical friendship that unites us and the reciprocal respect that our peoples deserve.”
With all the votes counted in Chile, the far-right candidate José Antonio Kast won 27.9 percent of the votes and the leftist Gabriel Boric 25.8%, so both candidates will contest the ballot next 19 from December.
Both candidates have already hunted for center votes and the very high percentage of Chileans who did not participate in Sunday’s presidential elections, in an open-ended race to La Moneda.
For her part, the spokesperson for the Presidency, Gabriela Cerruti said this Tuesday – in statements to the press at Government House – that Bielsa’s statements were in a “personal” capacity.
In this sense, he confirmed Cafiero’s communication with his Chilean counterpart and highlighted: “We have many issues in common beyond the fact that it is our main border neighbor by extension.”
“We continue working and we are going to continue working with the next government. That is a conversation that Foreign Minister Cafiero is leading with his Chilean counterpart,” the spokeswoman reaffirmed, adding: “Chile is in an electoral process and the government does not intervene in the electoral processes of neighboring countries “.
Later, in statements to the online radio FutuRöck, the spokeswoman added: “It was not a diplomatic interdict; there were some statements by Ambassador Bielsa that he made in an absolutely personal nature, as the Government made known.”
“The foreign minister had a conversation with his Chilean counterpart and we understand that we did not have an interdict; there was no type of formal complaint. Argentina does not get involved in the electoral processes of any country, as the Vienna convention says and, also, as is the tradition of Argentina, “added the official.
In this context, Cerruti highlighted the “number of issues in common with the Chilean men and women, with their economic, social, political and cultural processes”, and emphasized the desire to “continue deepening those relations.”
“We are going to continue deepening them, carrying out the agreements that we have to carry on when they have their new government elected,” he said.
“The relationship with Chile has to be the best possible relationship because it is our neighbor with the largest territorial border, but also because historical and economic ties unite us. We will continue to have the best possible relationship and deepen ties,” he concluded.
