The spat began when Spain’s transport minister said Argentina’s Javier Milei took drugs during last year’s election.

Spain and Argentina have their diplomatic daggers drawn and have traded jibes over drug use and economic decline.

The spat began on Friday when Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente, during a panel discussion in Salamanca, suggested that Argentina’s President Javier Milei had ingested “substances” during last year’s election campaign.

“I saw Milei on television” during the campaign, Puente told a Socialist Party conference.

“I don’t know if it was before or after the consumption … of substances.”

He also listed Milei among some “very bad people” who have reached high office.

Milei’s office responded on Saturday in a statement condemning the remarks and also attacking Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

The statement accused Sanchez of “endangering Spanish women by allowing illegal immigration” and undermining Spain’s integrity by making deals with separatists, while his left-wing policies brought “death and poverty”.

pic.twitter.com/eg2lXgc0cL

— Oficina del Presidente (@OPRArgentina) May 3, 2024

Spain reacted with fury.

“The Spanish government categorically rejects the unfounded words … which do not reflect the relations between the two countries and their fraternal people,” the Spanish foreign ministry said.

“The government and the Spanish people will continue to maintain and strengthen their fraternal links and their relations of friendship and collaboration with the Argentine people, a desire shared by all of Spanish society,” the statement added.

The spat comes two weeks before a visit to Spain by Argentina’s “anarcho-capitalist” president.

Milei will attend an event of the far-right Vox party and will be avoiding meeting Spain’s socialist head of government, Sanchez.

The two have never had good relations.

Sanchez supported Milei’s rival Sergio Massa in the election that brought Milei to power in December and has also not contacted Milei since the victory.

Milei has meanwhile publicly supported Spain’s far-right anti-immigration Vox party. Vox leader Santiago Abascal also went to Buenos Aires for Milei’s investiture.

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Three bodies have been discovered in a popular Mexican tourist area where an American and two Australians suddenly vanished last week having been on an apparent camping and surfing trip, the local prosecutor’s office said in a statement late on Friday.

American Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, as well as Australian brothers Callum Robinson, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, were last seen on April 27, the Baja California state prosecutor’s office previously announced. They did not show up at their planned accommodation last weekend.

Investigators discovered three bodies dumped in a pit while searching for the trio on Friday, although officials have not confirmed if the bodies are those of the missing men.

2 AMERICANS FOUND DEAD IN HOTEL ROOM IN MEXICO’S BAJA CALIFORNIA

Forensic tests on the remains will be conducted by a state laboratory, which will allow for positive identification of the bodies, the prosecutor’s office said in its statement.

Investigators continue to search the rugged area where the bodies were found for additional evidence, the statement added. 

The bodies were found in a rugged hillside area in Baja California near the popular tourist town of Ensenada, about 90 minutes south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Video from the scene shows rescuers installing ropes to enter the pit where the bodies were discovered. The site is seen cordoned off by police while a navy boat was also visible in the sea nearby.

The site where the bodies were discovered near the township of Santo Tomás was near the remote seaside area where the missing men’s tents and the burned-out Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck were found Thursday on a remote stretch of coast.

Members of a rescue team work at a site where three bodies were found in Baja California. The team have been looking for one American and two Australian tourists who have been reported missing. (Reuters)

It is unclear what types of injuries the victims suffered or how they died.

“There is a lot of important information that we can’t make public,” María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the chief state prosecutor said.

Baja California prosecutors said Friday that three people had been arrested and charged with a crime equivalent to kidnapping. It was unclear if they might face more charges.

Ensenada Mayor Carlos Ibarra Aguiar said in a news release that a 23-year-old woman had been detained with drugs and a cellphone that had a wallpaper photo of one of the missing men, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Officials didn’t specify how the three people were connected to the investigation, saying only that some were directly involved and others indirectly.

LUXURY RESORT SHUTTERS IN MEXICO’S BAJA CALIFORNIA AFTER MYSTERIOUS DEATHS OF 2 AMERICANS

A missing persons’ poster of the trio was distributed earlier this week. (Reuters)

Investigators said that a missing persons report was filed 48 hours after the men were last seen, although the prosecutor’s office began investigating as soon as posts began circulating on social media.

María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the chief state prosecutor, said that while drug cartels are active in the area, she said, “all lines of investigation are open at this time. We cannot rule anything out until we find them.”

The Baja California Attorney General’s Office has said that it has maintained contact with the FBI and relatives of the victims, through consular agencies.

Members of a rescue team work at a site where three bodies were found in the state of Baja California where one American and two Australian tourists were reported missing.

On Wednesday, the missing Australians’ mother, Debra Robinson, posted on a local community Facebook page an appeal for help in finding her sons and noted that Callum is diabetic.

The Australian media reports that Jake is a doctor, while Callum lives in San Diego and is a member of Australia’s national lacrosse team.

The State Department’s travel advisory lists Baja California under its “reconsider travel” category due to crime and kidnapping.

In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California — also known as the Sea of Cortez— from the Baja peninsula. Authorities say they were victims of highway bandits. 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.