Argentine President Javier Milei called his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva a "thief" and a "convict" during a rally in São Paulo on Sunday. Brasília recalled its ambassador in response.
It was from Brazilian soil that Javier Milei launched his attacks. The Argentine president was in São Paulo on Sunday for the launch of Flávio Bolsonaro's presidential campaign. Bolsonaro, the right-wing candidate, will run for president this October. Without mentioning Lula's name, Milei referred to the Brazilian head of state as a "thief" and a "convict," before asserting that Flávio Bolsonaro was the only one who could "stop Lula."
Milei also targeted Alexandre de Moraes, the Brazilian Supreme Court justice who oversaw the conviction of former president Jair Bolsonaro, calling him a "bald piece of trash." This same judge had previously denied Milei permission to visit Bolsonaro, who was then under house arrest in Brasilia.
The Brazilian reaction was swift. Diplomats denounced the insults as targeting the Brazilian government, people, and democracy. The Brazilian ambassador to Argentina, Julio Bitelli, was recalled to Brasilia overnight from Sunday to Monday. Lula, for his part, declared that he would continue to govern "without anyone's interference" and that "Brazil will not accept anyone meddling where they don't belong."
Flávio Bolsonaro is the son of Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced last year to more than 27 years in prison for plotting a coup to keep him in power after his defeat to Lula in the 2022 presidential election. Lula won the election with 50,9% of the vote.
As for the Brazilian president, he himself had been sentenced in 2018 to twelve years in prison in a vast corruption and passive bribery case, before being released after just over eighteen months of detention. The Supreme Court overturned his convictions in 2021, paving the way for his return to power.
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