Colombia's Foreign Ministry announced that Argentine President Javier Milei has ordered the expulsion of Argentine diplomats from the Colombian Embassy for making "derogatory" comments about Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
The statement recalled Milei's statements in an interview with CNN, which has not yet been broadcast in full, in which he characterized Petro as a "terrorist", "murderer" and "communist".
Milei's comments "damaged the trust between the two countries and hurt the honor of democratically elected President Gustavo Petro," the ministry said.
In January, Colombia recalled its ambassador to Argentina following similar comments by Milei.
Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, makes no secret of the fact that he is a former member of the long-disarmed M-19 guerrilla movement.
"You can't expect much from someone who is a terrorist killer," Milei said at one point in the interview, referring to Petro's past as a member of a guerrilla group.
The full interview is expected to air on Sunday.
Gustavo Petro and Javier Milei are leaders with contrasting political and economic ideologies.
Petro won the presidential election on promises to create social programs to help Colombia's long-neglected poor.
Milei, a self-described anarcho-capitalist, promised to cut government spending by eliminating ministries and costly programs to rein in triple-digit inflation.
Milei even used a wood engine in his campaign to demonstrate how aggressive his planned cuts would be.
Argentina has one of the highest inflation rates in the world.
Milei had previously described Petro as a "murderous communist" who had bankrupted his country and called the socialists "human excrement".
"That's what Hitler said," Petro responded on his social media account.
Meanwhile, Sergio Guzmán, director of the Bogotá-based think tank Colombia Risk Analysis, said, "Both are appealing to the crowd. In fact, they are in a pissing contest about who is more right-wing and who is more left-wing."
In the interview, Milei also attacks the Mexican president as "ignorant".
Lopez Obrador, who is a close friend of Petro and criticized Milei, said on his social media account, "I still don't understand how Argentines can elect someone like Milei despite being so intelligent."
