Argentina says Milei-Lula row will not hurt Brazil ties
Argentina has said that President Javier Milei’s recent insults against Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would not affect diplomatic or trade relations between the two countries.
Presidential spokesperson Adrian Ravier said Milei’s remarks reflected ideological and political differences, but Argentina did not expect them to spill into bilateral relations.
“We do not believe that this is going to have an impact on the diplomatic side of the two countries,” Ravier told reporters at the Casa Rosada.
He added that Argentina had no intention of allowing the dispute to affect trade between the two “brotherly peoples”, noting that both countries are major trading partners and members of Mercosur.
“It is part of the game,” Ravier said, adding that insults had come from both sides in the past but had not been taken to the diplomatic level by Argentina.
Milei called Lula a “thief” and a “criminal” during a Liberal Party event in Sao Paulo on Saturday, where he backed Flavio Bolsonaro’s presidential candidacy.
Lula later responded that Brazil would not accept anyone “sticking their nose where it does not belong”.
Brazil subsequently recalled its ambassador to Argentina, Julio Bitelli, for consultations.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
