Argentines see Milei's attacks against Lula as irresponsible

During the event in São Paulo, the Argentine called Alexandre de Moraes, minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), "bald trash" for not authorizing him to visit former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), arrested for an attempted coup d'état, and called Lula a thief and delinquent.

The speech marks the end of the truce between the two presidents -Milei has a history of offending the PT member since his victorious presidential campaign in 2023, but, in the last two years, the relationship between the two was only distant in favor of the importance of bilateral ties between nations.

Now, even protocol coexistence is shaken. After the comments, Itamaraty summoned the Argentine ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Raimondi, and Brasília's representative in Buenos Aires, Julio Bitelli, to provide clarifications. The Minister of Finance, Dario Durigan, called Milei a clown when rebutting criticism of the Brazilian economy.

In the neighboring country, the opposition heavily criticized the president's attacks.

The governor of the province of Buenos Aires and former Economy Minister of Cristina Kirchner, Axel Kicillof, said on Sunday (26) that he followed the event with "extra shame".

"Today I contacted Mauro Vieira, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil [...] to convey that Milei does not represent the feelings of the Argentine people," he stated on social media. "Brazil is our main trading partner. With these provocations, Milei is putting investments, exports, thousands of jobs and Argentina's interests at risk."

Former president Alberto Fernández, Milei's predecessor and Lula's ally, also spoke. “Milei went to Brazil screaming like crazy demanding to see a coup leader arrested,” he also stated on social media. "Insulting the president of a sister nation and our main trading partner is inexcusable."

The criticism even reached the so-called moderate opposition - which is not part of the ruling party coalition, but which can vote with the president, especially on economic issues. Representative Miguel Angel Pichetto was the representative of this group.

"Total irresponsibility", stated Mauricio Macri's vice-presidential candidate in his unsuccessful run for re-election in 2019. "The tone, the content of his speech and the level of aggressiveness against President Lula are really serious. This seriously weakens Argentina's integration with Brazil and Mercosur", he stated, also on social media.

The rejection, however, stopped there. The president's allies, as expected, did not comment on the attacks, and Milei's chief of staff, Diego Santilli, asked that "not make so much drama."

"They came here to campaign, they said terrible things about the president and they were able to do what they wanted," he told LN+, a channel run by the newspaper La Nación, minimizing the impact of the leader's statements due to the "long-standing relationship between companies from both countries, which continues."

Santilli did not clarify exactly what he was referring to, but, in 2023, Milei accused Lula of financing his opponent, the Peronist Sergio Massa, without presenting evidence. That year, a group of advertisers linked to the PT reinforced Massa's campaign team, but there were strategists from various other parts of the world.

This Sunday, Milei again made accusations without evidence when commenting on the visit to Brazil. "Do you know who invested the most money in this anti-Argentina campaign? The Brazilian government," he said about the attacks the country experienced during the World Cup. "Twenty-five percent of the resources came from the Brazilian government. And then they come and talk about interference", he continued, during a radio interview.

Read Also: 'Harsh, rude and unacceptable', says Mauro Vieira, about Milei's statements