BRASILIA/BUENOS AIRES, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) — Brazil downgraded its relations with Argentina to the charge d’affaires level earlier this week, after repeated verbal attacks on President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by Argentine President Javier Milei.
VERBAL ATTACKS
During a media interview on Sunday, Milei said Lula was a “thief” and “corrupt.”
His similar insulting remarks before had already chilled relations between the two neighbors. On July 25, Milei called Lula a criminal at a political event in Brazil’s southeastern city of Sao Paulo. He was there to support the presidential candidacy of Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who is currently serving a 27-year jail term for plotting a coup after losing his reelection bid in 2022.
On July 26, Brazil recalled its ambassador to Argentina, Julio Bitelli, in protest.
Brazilian media reported Brazil having downgraded ties with Argentina on Tuesday, citing foreign ministry sources.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira has ruled out harsher measures for now, such as a full severance of diplomatic representation, according to media reports.
The Argentine foreign ministry on Tuesday expressed regret over the Brazilian move, which it attributed to “purely ideological reasons.”
BRAZIL-U.S. TENSIONS RENEWED
Concurrently, Brazil’s ties with the United States were strained further over diplomatic visas.
On Wednesday, in an interview with YouTube channel Meteoro Brasil, Brazilian President Lula criticized the U.S. decision to revoke the visa of Brazil’s ambassador to Washington, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, calling the move “irresponsible and thoughtless.”
The U.S. Department of State announced the visa revocation the day before, describing it as retaliation for Brazil’s refusal last month to issue visas to two state department officials, as well as its alleged delays in approving U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Perez.
In response, Lula noted that Washington had shown little urgency regarding its diplomatic presence in Brazil, leaving its embassy without a chief representative for more than a year and a half.
“They expect us to act on their timeline? That is neither fair nor acceptable. We demand to be treated with respect,” Lula said.
TWO MONTHS AWAY FROM BRAZIL’S ELECTIONS
In the interview Wednesday, Lula said Brazil will not receive new ambassadors before its general elections scheduled for Oct. 4.
“We cannot accept interference,” the president said.
Lula is seeking a fourth four-year term in office in the upcoming elections, with Bolsonaro from the Liberal Party as his rival.
Apart from Milei, Bolsonaro has also got the open support from members of the Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to media reports. Both Trump and Milei are allies of Brazil’s far-right Bolsonaro family.
ELECTION KEY TO LATIN AMERICA
Some members of Brazil’s Workers’ Party (PT) share Lula’s concerns over the risk of foreign intervention in the October elections, pointing to Trump and Milei, media reports said.
“This election in Brazil determines the future of Latin America,” PT leader Edinho Silva said during Sunday’s convention that officially nominated Lula as the ruling party’s presidential candidate.
Since 2023, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia have elected right-wing presidents representing a political shift toward the right.
As Latin America’s largest economy and a founding member of the BRICS grouping of major emerging economies, the election results in Brazil are believed to matter much to regional political and ideological maps for the continent, an important region of the Global South. ■
