The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silvaattacked his Argentine counterpart, Javier Milei, harshly this morning, to whom he claimed that “apologize” to his country and to himself, because “he said a lot of nonsense.” The statements increase the diplomatic tension between the two main partners of Mercosur, which was complicated by the case of the militants identified with Jair Bolsonaro who were convicted by the Brazilian justice system and took refuge in Argentina.
The statements received a quick response from the Argentine government: “Milei has nothing to regret,” said the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, this morning at the morning press conference at the Casa Rosada.
“I did not speak with the president of Argentina because I believe that He must apologize to Brazil and to me. He said a lot of nonsense. I just want him to apologizeI love Argentina, it is a country that I like a lot, it is a very important country for Brazil, and Brazil is very important for Argentina. “It is not a president of the Republic who is going to create discord between Brazil and Argentina.”was the phrase he spoke this morning.
“The Brazilian and Argentine people are older than the presidents. They want to live well, they want to live in peace. “If the president of Argentina wants to govern Argentina, that’s fine, let him not try to govern the world.”he added in an interview with the UOL portal, when asked why he had not had contact with the libertarian leader at the G7 summit in Italy.
Lula also said that his Government is dealing “with a lot of diplomacy” with the case of dozens of Bolsonaro activists who participated in the coup plot of January 8, 2003 in Brazil and fled to Argentina in recent months, after Milei assumed the presidency in That country. The Brazilian president explained that there is information that there are already final sentences for some of the escapees and that his government is analyzing whether it will formally request extradition or demand that, “in case they do not want to come, that they go to prison in Argentina.”
Lula, one of the references of the Latin American left, has so far not had any contact with Milei, who maintains a close relationship with the Brazilian right-wing opposition, led by Bolsonaro (2019-2022). Milei and Lula met for the first time last week, at the G7 summit held in Italy, but they avoided each other, did not exchange any words nor were they seen together in photographs.
Both will meet again on July 8 in Asunción, within the framework of the semi-annual Mercosur summit, to which Lula has already confirmed his attendance, as did spokesperson Adorni regarding the Argentine president.
With information from the EFE agency
