Around 50 politicians, intellectuals and artists have called on Paris City Hall to declare Argentina's President Javier Milei "persona non grata" in the French capital.
The call comes ahead of Milei's planned visit to Paris in late September and early October.
“We call on the Paris Council to declare the Argentine President persona non grata in our city. After almost three years in office, Javier Milei’s radical austerity policies are weighing heavily on Argentine society,” read a petition published on the change.org website.
The “citizens’ initiative” also urges Paris and its mayor, Socialist leader Emmanuel Grégoire, to “reject any official reception” and “any distinction” for Milei, and to reaffirm the city’s “solidarity with the democratic struggles of Argentine society."
“Paris cannot be a city where denialism, historical revisionism and the erasure of the crimes of Argentina’s dictatorship are tolerated,” Rodrigo Arenas, a Paris councillor and left-wing lawmaker who was one of the petition’s first 50 signatories, told the AFP news agency.
The petition had gathered more than 500 signatures at the time of publication. The published list of the first 50 to sign up also includes Paris Socialist councillor Geneviève Garrigos, as well as French figures and intellectuals with ties to Argentina and Latin America.
Argentine actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, lawyer Sophie Thonon – who represents the families of French nationals who disappeared during Argentina’s dictatorship – and filmmakers Santiago Amigorena and Alberto Marquardt hare among those to have signed the petition.
The petition denounces, among other things, the “dismantling of public services” in Argentina, “violations of women’s rights” and “police repression.” It also accuses Milei of “downplaying” the crimes of Argentina’s military dictatorship.
The signatories also raise concerns about the situation facing Casa Argentina, a residence at the prestigious Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, following the appointment of lawyer Santiago Muzio as its director by the Milei administration.
On July 30, Paris City Hall asked French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to investigate the management of the Casa Argentina, particularly “decisions to evict” residents, the removal of a plaque commemorating people who disappeared during the dictatorship, and the holding of meetings “promoting far-right ideologies,” among other issues.
“We are continuing to hold discussions with the Argentine authorities and their representatives in Paris,” Barrot said on Tuesday when asked at a press conference about the situation at the Casa Argentina and the Paris City Hall petition, without providing further details.
– TIMES/AFP
Comments