King Felipe VI opens Ibero-American Summit in Madrid as Milei and Sánchez meet for first time

King Felipe VI inaugurates the XXX Ibero-American Summit in Madrid this Wednesday, with 22 delegations attending. The meeting marks the first face-to-face encounter between Argentine President Javier Milei and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez after Milei called him an "unpresentable dictator." Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are absent, leaving Milei, Chile's José Antonio Kast, and Guatemala's Bernardo Arévalo as the only heads of state present. Milei travels to Spain for the eighth time since taking office, with the summit opening at the Teatro Real followed by a reception at the Royal Palace. Spain's Interior Ministry deployed 3,250 security forces for the summit, significantly fewer than the 10,000 officers used for the 2022 NATO meeting. The security coordination center is based at the Galería de las Colecciones Reales, with the reduced contingent reflecting the lower number of high-ranking officials attending.