Argentina has accused Chile and Bolivia of harbouring Hezbollah members after asking to join Nato.
The claims have caused a diplomatic scandal in South America with leaders in both countries expressing their anger at comments made by Argentinian security minister Patricia Bullrich.
In an interview with local media, she said there was an ongoing Hezbollah operation in the two countries, with Chile immediately summoning Argentinian ambassador in Santiago, Jorge Faurie to launch a formal complaint about the comment.
According to the Chilean government led by Gabriel Boric, Argentina apologised immediately for the Bullrich’s accusations.
On Wednesday morning, the Chilean leader said he demanded respect for his country adding that Chile “does not protect any terrorist group”.
He then asked Bullrich to act responsibly and asked for proof of the claims from the Argentinian official.
He said: “If she has serious background information, she should hand it over to the courts and communicate through the Foreign Ministry.”
In her interview with the LN+ news site, Bullrich said Argentina is “in an area where there is an active presence of two forces that are allied, one directly to Iran, which is Hezbollah, which is on the triple border of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina”.
She also claimed, “there has been a presence in recent times in Iquique, in the north of Chile, last year in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a few weeks ago in Peru”.
Bolivia supported Chile’s rebuttal of the claims with the country’s government also asking for evidence in a statement.
The statement read: “We emphatically deny and reject that Bolivia protects people on its borders who sow terror, insecurity and anxiety. These accusations lack evidence or proof and are made without any basis whatsoever.
“We note with concern a campaign that seeks to generate confrontation between Latin American states, governments and peoples, provoking unnecessary friction between brotherly countries, which the government and the Plurinational State of Bolivia condemns.
“In the coming hours, we will summon the diplomatic representation of the Argentine Republic to provide explanations on the unfortunate and mistaken statements made by minister Bullrich.”
It comes after Argentina recently got into a number of diplomatic disputes with Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Bolivia.
