Milei deepens regional right-wing alliance with trip to Ecuador and Colombia

President Javier Milei has begun a new international tour aimed at strengthening ties with South America’s right-wing leaders, including Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa and Colombia’s president-elect, Abelardo de la Espriella, who takes office on Friday. While in Colombia for De la Espriella’s inauguration, Milei will also hold a bilateral meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, further underscoring his government’s close relationship with Israel. Milei departed Buenos Aires for Ecuador on Wednesday night. On Thursday afternoon, he is scheduled to meet Noboa, accompanied by Presidential Secretary Karina Milei and Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno. The two presidents are expected to sign a series of bilateral agreements. The encounter comes as Argentina’s Congress debates a controversial property rights reform bill, which is expected to draw protesters outside the legislative building. Milei and Noboa previously met at the inaugurations of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s second term in June 2024 and United States President Donald Trump in January 2025. Their first bilateral meeting came in August last year, when Noboa visited Buenos Aires. First meeting with De la Espriella The presidential delegation will then fly to Cali, Colombia, on Thursday night. On Friday morning, Milei will first meet with the Israeli foreign minister before holding a bilateral meeting with De la Espriella ahead of his inauguration. Afterward, Milei will attend De la Espriella’s inauguration ceremony on Friday afternoon before returning to Argentina in the early hours of Saturday. The visit will mark Milei’s first meeting with De la Espriella, whom he congratulated after his presidential election victory, saying that “most Colombians chose the path of economic freedom.” Milei later said the pair share the same economic and political vision, declaring that “the lion and the tiger roar in Latin America” a reference to their respective nicknames. The two are political outsiders and share hard-line positions on social issues, with an economic agenda centered on shrinking the state and cutting corporate taxes. De la Espriella’s victory expands what Milei has dubbed the “blue wave” of conservative, right-wing governments in South America, which now spans nearly every country in the region except Brazil and Uruguay.