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Prudent and cold distance, without loud fights or effusive approaches. “It’s not that there is a bad relationship. There is no relationship,” defines a source in Brazilian diplomacy, after the G7 meeting ended without a bilateral meeting, not even a casual greeting, between the president Javier Milei and his pair from Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silvaeach one at one end of the official photo of that meeting.
After the very harsh statements of the then libertarian candidate in the campaign, when he accused Lula da Silva of being a “communist” and “corrupt” (as a result of the legal process in which he was convicted in his country), and Lula’s evident support for the candidate of Union for the Homeland, Sergio Massa In the second electoral round against Milei, the relationship flowed at the level of foreign ministers, who already met four times in six months. There were also advances and gestures in different areas, such as the agreement for the supply of gas from Brazil to the country in the middle of the cold wave; joint business missions at a recent business meeting in Egypt; Argentine humanitarian aid in the floods in southern Brazil, among other points of effective contact.
Everything reaches there, to the personal bond between both presidents, which the diplomacy and intermediaries of both countries try to bring closer, and the occasional bilateral incident such as the Lula government’s request to extradite protesters. Bolsonarists, convicted by the Brazilian justice system and allegedly residing in the country. An incident so far handled prudently by both foreign ministries, without orders to escalate the conflict.
“I am not so concerned (about the distance), I insist to the President and I have discussed it with the ambassador. When they meet in person Lula and Milei will have a good relationship, they are simple people who will be able to converse well”; the Chief of Staff said optimistically on Thursday, Guillermo Francosat the lunch organized by the Bar Association of the City of Buenos Aires.
From Itamaraty’s diplomacy they respond in a similar way, without hiding the divergences but careful to awaken what some member of the Government calls the “wild side” of the Argentine president. “It is not essential that there be friendship between the presidents, nor should a meeting between the two be forced. Milei said that she wanted an adult relationship with Brazil and she is complying,” they stated from Brazil’s diplomacy, with the words of the President at the last Davos summit.
A little over a month ago, during her visit to Itamaraty, the chancellor Diana Mondino argued with his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Veira on the future of Mercosur, and the differences between both governments on the future of the common bloc. There, and in a surprising move, the chancellor gave her Brazilian counterpart a letter from the President to Lula, in which she expressed her desire to meet. Two months later, there is still no concrete news about that eventual meeting, while differences, in form and substance, between both administrations remain.
In recent days, the link seemed to be strained with the request of the Brazilian government, via its ambassador in Buenos Aires, Julio Bitellito the Foreign Ministry, to inform if it is part of a list of 143 supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, and convicted of “demonstrations against democracy,” are in the country. The official response of the Government, in the mouth of the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorniwas pragmatic, with no room for verbal challenges and without expressing itself about the asylum requests of those Brazilian citizens, which sectors of Bolsonarism publicly demanded.
“We comply with the law and, in such case, if there are criminals in Argentina, we will proceed to follow the corresponding legal path,” said the Milei spokesperson, and explained that the National Commission for Refugees “is the one that evaluates the legality, the legal feasibility, and indeed whether it corresponds or not; and it is individually, in each case. Therefore, that decision is beyond us, if you will,” defined Adorni. The public explanations satisfied Itamaraty, who prefers, according to what he was able to know, THE NATION Do not add fuel to the fire and wait for the official response.
Beyond the decision of both governments not to escalate the conflict, pending a meeting that could take place, even if informally, at the Mercosur summit in Asunción next month, the different roles that both play in The geopolitical situation makes a convergent view difficult.
Bluntly aligned with the United States and Israel, Milei participated this Saturday in the summit for Peace in Ukraine, an invitation that Lula da Silva avoided (he sent his diplomats in Switzerland) since he considers that the Russian Federation of Vladimir Putin she should have been invited. In fact, Lula and her Chinese couple, Xi Jinpingpresented a peace proposal for Ukraine two weeks ago, from a “neutral” position that of course included Putin, but which did not prosper.
Brazil, China and Russia are a fundamental part of the Brics, the group that Argentina refused to join a few days after Milei arrived at the Casa Rosada, and which it had been invited to join during the government of Alberto Fernandezin good and continuous harmony with the president of Brazil.
Contrary to what official spokespersons maintain, in Brazil they affirm that this alliance “is not composed of friendly countries that agree on everything, nor do they coordinate a political agenda,” although they respect Argentina’s “sovereign decision” not to participate, especially because in In recent months, Iran (named by the Argentine Justice as a participant in the attacks on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the AMIA) was also invited to be part of that economic bloc.
Without bilaterals with Lula or with his counterpart from Uruguay, Luis Lacalle PouSo far in his mandate, Milei has so far not shown interest in strengthening Mercosur. From Brasilia they acknowledge that “there was concern about the proposal for totally free trade”, launched by the President during his electoral campaign. But they assure that Argentina’s attitude was “constructive” in the common market, and they trust that the progress made in an EU-Mercosur agreement, currently stopped by the decision of European countries like France, will be transferred to other joint proposals with others. countries and economic blocks. They trust that the personal conflicts that generated the distance will, in a short time, be definitively put aside.
