Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met in Brasília on Monday with his nation’s ambassador in Argentina to “thoroughly review” issues in the bilateral relationship.
The meeting, confirmed by Brazil’s Foreign Ministry, comes amid an ongoing dispute between Lula and Argentina’s President Javier Milei.
Julio Bitelli, Brazil's ambassador in Buenos Aires, “was recalled for consultations in Brasília,” the portfolio said in a statement.
The ambassador's temporary recall to home turf “has the purpose of reviewing, in an in-depth and personal manner, the main issues of the relationship between Brazil and Argentina with interlocutors from the Brazilian government.”
Ambassador Bitelli “met with Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and spoke with President”’ Lula, said the Brazilian government in its statement.
The envoy will also meet with Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin to discuss how best to manage the relationship between South America’s two major nations.
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry played down the consultation, telling the AFP news agency that “this is not a protest measure” but “a call for contacts of a more regular nature.”
The spokesman stressed that the call “does not compare” to a similar move Brazil made with its ambassador to Israel, after Lula in February called Israel's military campaign in Gaza “genocide.”
The left-wing leader's relations with Milei have long been strained. Ties worsened after Argentina’s self-confessed “anarcho-capitalist” head of state invited former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), Lula's arch-rival, to his inauguration in Buenos Aires last December.
In the months that have passed, the relationship between Argentina and Brazil has deteriorated even further.
Milei, who is seeking to introduce massive economic reforms in Argentina, has regularly insulted Lula, of late calling him “corrupt” and a “lefty” with an “inflamed ego.”
The Brazilian leader, for his part, has said that he will not speak with Milei until the La Libertad Avanza apologises for the “nonsense” he said previously
The latest diplomatic setback between the two nations came just last week, when Milei snubbed an appearance at the Mercosur trade bloc summit in Asunción.
Lula, who did attend, was joined by other regional leaders in criticising the Argentine head of state’s absence. Uruguay's Luis Lacalle Pou and Paraguay's Santiago Peña were among those who voiced criticism of the decision.
Milei, who said he was too busy to attend, instead travelled to the south of Brazil to attend a forum staged by the US conservative group CPAC, which Bolsonaro also attended.
The Argentine leader’s visit was not an official visit and he met no Brazilian officials, though he did spend time with Bolsonaro.
Speaking to the G1 news site on Monday, Bitelli downplayed the dispute between Lula and Milei and assured that a meeting between the two “will happen when it has to happen.”
Brazil wants to explore “the best way” that its interests in Argentina can “be preserved and expanded,” said the envoy, who said the situation between the presidents “has to be de-dramatised.”
Bitelli is expected to return to Buenos Aires and resume his duties next week, according to the Foreign Ministry in Brasília.
– TIMES/AFP/PERFIL
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