Diplomatic tensions between Brazil and Argentina flared sharply after President Javier Milei’s remarks at a political rally in Sao Paulo prompted Brazil to pull its ambassador from Buenos Aires for consultations.
Brazil’s foreign ministry said the decision followed what it described as “insults” delivered by Mr Milei during the event.
At the gathering on Saturday held to formally nominate right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro for upcoming elections Argentina’s libertarian president attacked Brazil’s leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, calling him a “convict” and a “thief” without explicitly naming him.
In the same appearance, Mr Milei also took aim, again without naming him directly, at Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, referring to him as “bald trash.”
Mr Milei “insulted two branches of government, the Brazilian people and Brazilian democracy,” a Brazilian diplomatic source told AFP.
Brazil’s response went beyond recalling its own envoy: the government also summoned Argentina’s ambassador to address the “insults,” the source told AFP.
Speaking at a union event, Mr Lula struck a defiant tone, saying he would continue to lead “without anyone’s interference,” adding that “in Brazil, we do not accept anyone sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong.”
The Brazilian leader did not specify a target for the comments.
World Cup drama
In an interview with Argentina’s Radio Mitre, Mr Milei said his country was facing a negative “campaign” he claimed was financed by Brazil and Mexico both led by leftist governments as well as the Democratic party in the United States.
“They’re the progressive leaders who don’t want the ideas of freedom to work,” Mr Milei said.
Mr Milei offered no concrete evidence for the alleged campaign or its supposed backers, but he appeared to link his complaint in part to backlash aimed at Argentina’s national team during the World Cup.
Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in the tournament final, in a foul-heavy match that ended with a brawl on the pitch and the Argentine squad turning its back during the trophy ceremony.
In the aftermath, critics accused the Argentine team of poor sportsmanship.
Mr Milei travelled to Brazil for Saturday’s event alongside Mr Bolsonaro and, in his speech, warned of what he called a “Lula risk” looming over the country, urging Brazil to free itself from what he described as “subjugation to the left”.
He also said Mr Moraes had stopped him from visiting his “unjustly imprisoned friend” Jair Bolsonaro Flavio’s father and Brazil’s former president (2019–2022), who was convicted of plotting a coup in 2022.
Bolsanro was sentenced to 27 years in jail but Brazil’s conservative-majority Congress passed a law in April reducing his prison term to a little over two years.
Mr Moraes, who oversaw the conviction of Bolsonaro, had previously denied Mr Milei permission to visit the former president while he is under house arrest in Brasilia.
