Brazil has recalled its ambassador to Argentina for consultations in response to “insults” uttered by President Javier Milei during a visit to São Paulo.
In a statement, Brazil’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Suinday that it had recalled its envoy over “the insults made yesterday by the Argentine president” against his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other officials, during a political rally.
Without naming them directly, Milei referred to Lula as “the prisoner” and “the thief,” while describing Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes as “a bald piece of trash” during the launch of right-wing lawmaker Flávio Bolsonaro’s presidential campaign for Brazil’s upcoming October election.
Milei travelled to Brazil on Friday to attend the Liberal Party (PL) convention that formally endorsed Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, as its presidential candidate.
The Argentine leader had also hoped to visit the ex-president, who is serving house arrest over his conviction for attempting a coup, but Brazil’s Supreme Court denied permission for the meeting.
Brazil’s Workers’ Party (PT), the political movement of President Lula, had criticised Milei on Saturday, saying the Argentine leader was “not up to the office” following his remarks about the party governing the neighbouring country.
In a statement, PT chairman Edinho Silva criticised the Argentine leaders’ critical comments, describing them as “disrespectful.”
“It is unacceptable for a foreign head of state to visit our country and address its constitutional institutions in a disrespectful manner,” Silva said, adding that Milei’s behaviour “comes as no surprise” because he has “demonstrated on numerous recent occasions that he is not up to the office he holds.”
Appearing alongside Flávio Bolsonaro, a right-wing ally, Milei referred to Lula as “the prisoner,” in reference to the Brazilian leader’s time in jail between 2018 and 2019.
Milei also said that while Argentina faces what he called the “Kuka risk” – a pejorative reference used by some of his supporters for Kirchnerism – Brazil now faces the “Lula risk.”
“What Brazilians decide at the ballot box in the short term will undoubtedly have consequences for decades to come,” Milei said in a speech, urging voters “not to let your future be stolen” and to cast their ballots with future generations in mind.
The president drew parallels with Argentina, which he said had “suffered the consequences” of embracing socialism.
He claimed that one of his administration’s missions was “to warn other nations to change course in time and avoid social and economic tragedies like those experienced by Argentina, or even worse.
“We have seen how our nation went from being a world power to being plunged into poverty by the shitty left,” Milei said. “Because we have suffered, we do not want others to suffer.”
At one point, after his microphone briefly cut out, Milei launched a direct insult at Lula. “Hey, who messed with these microphones? The thief?” he asked.
Milei and the Bolsonaro family have presented themselves as ideological allies of Latin America’s emerging right since 2023, while relations between the La Libertad Avanza leader and Lula have remained strained throughout the Argentine leader’s time in office.
During his first visit to Brazil as president in July 2024, Milei skipped any meeting with Lula to attend a conservative forum.
The following year, Lula visited former Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who was serving house arrest following her corruption conviction, after attending the Mercosur summit in Buenos Aires.
Milei referenced this visit during his speech, also recalling that Lula backed Sergio Massa during Argentina’s 2023 presidential election.
“I had a neighbour who interfered in Argentine politics in an attempt to twist history in favour of the shitty lefties,” he said.
He went on to describe socialism as “the road to totalitarianism” and accused left-wing governments of following a common strategy.
“Their modus operandi is to create economic imbalances with the short-term objective of retaining votes and holding onto power. Then, when they lose, the right takes office and has to solve all those problems,” he said.
– TIMES/AFP/NA
