Argentina’s president-elect has confused the UK’s new foreign secretary with legendary filmmaker James Cameron.
Javier Milei, the far-right former economist who was elected to serve as the country’s next premier earlier this week, referred to newly-minted Government minister and Lord David Cameron as James Cameron in a recent interview.
Mr Milei’s radical politics have sparked discussions about how he intends to handle Argentina’s claim to the Falklands islands, forcing him into conversation with British officials.
The president-elect, who is also known as “El Loco” or “Madman”, sent a letter to diplomats and national leaders thanking them for congratulating him on his victory.
But he made two embarrassing mistakes in an official note documenting his conversation with Mr Cameron.
Mr Milei’s letter, sent via the Office of the President of Argentina, started by thanking US President Joe Biden, stating the leaders committed to “strengthening of bilateral relations”.
The incoming president also spoke with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Dina Boluarte, the president of Peru.
When the note reached the UK, instead of thanking Foreign Secretary David Cameron, he thanked “British Chancellor James Cameron”.
Mr Cameron returned to Government for the first time since 2016 when he became Foreign Secretary last week, while James Cameron has a decades-long established career in filmmaking and is Canadian.
While the former Prime Minister is not related to the Canadian filmmaker, it isn’t the first time the two have been mistaken for one another.
In 2016, Portuguese TV channel RTP 1 displayed a picture of the “Avatar” creator while speaking about the beginning of Brexit negotiations with the EU.
The latest case of mistaken identity went unmentioned by Mr Cameron in his own note discussing his conversation with Mr Milei.
The ex-PM said the two had spoken about what the UK and Argentina can “achieve by working together”.
He wrote: “I spoke to the president-elect of Argentina, Javier Milei, to congratulate him on his election victory and to wish him good luck as he prepares to take office.
“There is much that the UK and Argentina can achieve by working together.”
