Brazil has pulled its ambassador in Argentina back to Brasilia for consultations after President Javier Milei aimed a fresh burst of “insults” at Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The remarks came during a political gathering in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s foreign ministry said.
Argentina’s libertarian president, speaking Saturday at an event that formally nominated right-wing presidential hopeful Flavio Bolsonaro for forthcoming elections, referred to Brazil’s leftist leader as a “convict” and a “thief,” though he stopped short of saying Mr Lula’s name.
Mr Milei also appeared to take aim at Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, again without identifying him directly, calling him “bald trash.”
Brazil’s government also called in Argentina’s ambassador to address the “insults,” the source told AFP.
At a union event, Mr Lula struck a defiant note, saying he would continue to govern “without anyone’s interference,” adding that “in Brazil, we do not accept anyone sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong.”
The Brazilian president did not say whom he was referring to.
World Cup drama
Mr Milei later told Argentina’s Radio Mitre that his country was facing a hostile “campaign” financed by Brazil and Mexico — both led by leftist presidents — as well as the Democratic party in the US.
“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 existence of such a campaign or for the funding he alleged, but his comments appeared to point in part to criticism of Argentina’s national team during the World Cup.
Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 in the tournament final, a bruising match marked by repeated fouls, a brawl on the pitch after the whistle, and the Argentine squad turning away during the trophy ceremony.
After the defeat, critics accused Argentina’s players of showing poor sportsmanship.
Mr Milei had travelled to Brazil for Saturday’s event with Mr Bolsonaro, where he warned in a speech of a supposed “Lula risk” facing the country and urged Brazilians to free themselves from “subjugation to the left”.
Mr Milei also said Mr Moraes had blocked him from seeing his “unjustly imprisoned friend” Jair Bolsonaro — Flavio’s father and Brazil’s former president from 2019 to 2022 — who was convicted of plotting a coup in 2022.
Bolsanro was sentenced to 27 years in prison, though Brazil’s conservative-majority Congress approved a law in April cutting his term to just over two years.
Mr Moraes, who presided over Bolsonaro’s conviction, had earlier refused Mr Milei permission to visit the former president while he remains under house arrest in Brasilia.
