Mattis Says Talks Went Smoothly With Argentine Military Leader

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said there were “no disagreements” between U.S. and Argentine military leaders during his visit to Buenos Aires, the first visit to Argentina by a U.S. defense secretary since 2005.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Argentine Minister of Defense Oscar Aguad, Mattis said the two agreed to collaborate more on military education and exchanging information.

“It was mostly about consultation, collaboration and defining what we need to focus on. Now we’ll go back and we’ll start all the various action teams and get it all under way,” he said.

Ahead of the defense secretaries’ meeting, Aguad said he was glad to get “close” to the United States again, alluding to difficult relations prior to 2015 when Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was Argentina’s president.

“We have a broad field for great cooperation, because we have come back to the road we should have never left,” Aguad said.