Brazil Downgrades Diplomatic Ties with Argentina Following Milei's 'Thief' Provocation Against Lula

Diplomatic relations between Brazil and Argentina are rapidly plunging into a deep freeze following Argentine President Javier Milei's remarks calling Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva a "thief."

The sharp provocation by the Argentine president against President Lula, who is seeking a fourth overall term in Brazil's presidential election in October, appears to be escalating into a diplomatic clash between the two countries.

According to Argentine daily La Nacion on the 5th, local time, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry summoned the Argentine ambassador to Brazil the previous day to deliver an official letter of protest and decided to downgrade diplomatic relations from the ambassadorial level to a charge d'affaires level.

Consequently, the return to Buenos Aires of Julio Bitelli, the Brazilian ambassador to Argentina who had been recently recalled to his home country, has been postponed indefinitely.

A Brazilian government official told La Nacion, "We have exercised great patience and refrained from responding until now, but this measure became inevitable due to the repeated insults directed at President Lula."

La Nacion added that this diplomatic measure by Brazil is an unprecedented decision with no parallel in the diplomatic history of the two countries since Argentina's democratization in 1983.

Previously, President Milei attended the Brazilian Liberal Party convention on July 25 and launched direct verbal attacks targeting President Lula, calling him a "thief" and a "convict," and continued making similar remarks in various media interviews thereafter.

Particularly on the 4th, he made remarks that directly interfered in the presidential election, stating, "I hope Brazil turns blue. It is always good to drive out corrupt thieves and the left."

Blue is the color symbolizing the blue tide, a wave of right-wing governance.

The Argentine Foreign Ministry expressed regret over Brazil's decision to downgrade diplomatic relations, emphasizing, "We have never responded to political differences with institutional measures."

However, diplomatic sources projected that Argentina will also downgrade diplomatic relations in a similar manner with a time lag in order to match relations between the core Mercosur (Southern Common Market) allies at the "same level."

Meanwhile, regarding the U.S. government's cancellation of the visa for the Brazilian ambassador to the United States dispatched to the country, President Lula fiercely criticized the move during an interview with the YouTube channel "Meteor Brasil" on the 5th, calling it an "irresponsible and imprudent measure."

The leftist government of Brazil interprets recent events, including the hardline remarks by Argentine President Milei, additional U.S. tariffs on Brazil, and the visa revocation of the Brazilian ambassador to the U.S., as moves by the Western Hemisphere's right wing to interfere in the Brazilian presidential election coming up in October.

The upcoming election will feature a matchup between incumbent leftist President Lula and right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.