The Brazilian government called the Argentine ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Raimundi, for consultations this Sunday, following insults from President Javier Milei against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other authorities. The Foreign Ministry’s measure came shortly after the Brazilian ambassador in Buenos Aires, Julio Bitelli, was also summoned, who will return to Brasília early Monday morning. Milei’s controversial presence at the launch of Flávio Bolsonaro’s presidential candidacy on Saturday sparked a new crisis in the tense relationship between the two governments.
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During a fiery speech delivered in São Paulo, Milei called Lula a “prisoner” and “socialist trash” and also attacked Supreme Federal Court judge Alexandre de Moraes for not authorizing his visit to former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a sentence under house arrest. For the magistrate, whom Bolsonarism considers its main enemy, Milei reserved the label “bald trash.”
The president of the country’s highest court, Edson Fachin, lamented in a statement the “lack of respect” shown on Brazilian soil and emphasized that Milei’s statements “are incompatible with the civility that should characterize relations between states.”
As the diplomatic conflict escalated, Milei renewed his attacks against the Brazilian government this Sunday. The Argentine president participated in the inauguration of the traditional annual exhibition of the Rural Society and, after the event, in the same venue located in Buenos Aires, gave an interview to Radio Mitre. “Do you know who put the most money into this anti-Argentine campaign? The Brazilian government. 25% of the resources came from there… and then they come to talk about interference,” he asserted. The president was referring to what he understands was a campaign against the country launched in response to the performance of the Argentine national team in the recent Football World Cup.
“The ex-prisoner came to visit the inmate, here no one forbade him anything”
Javier Milei accused the Brazilian government of contributing “25% of the resources” for the “anti-Argentina campaign” and protested: “They didn’t let me visit my friend, who is unjustly imprisoned.” pic.twitter.com/OHbpV1QHhf
— Corta (@somoscorta) July 26, 2026
Without mentioning the source of his claims, Milei stated that “this anti-Argentine campaign was also financed by Mexico, by the Democratic Party of the United States.” From his perspective, “they are the progressive heads who do not want the ideas of freedom to work. Because if you start to show that by running the state, running out these parasites, the economy progresses and people are better off, they have a huge problem. So, that’s why they attack us.”
To justify his attacks against Lula, the Argentine president pointed out that Lula’s collaborators “played a very active role in the 2023 campaign.” “Or do you forget that Massa’s advisors [Sergio, the Peronist candidate in those elections] were a group of Brazilians sent by Lula? They actively participated in that campaign,” Milei emphasized. He also noted that during his visit to Brazil on Saturday, he wanted to see Jair Bolsonaro: “And they didn’t let me. But here the ex-prisoner [referring to Lula] came to greet the inmate [referring to former Argentine president Cristina Fernández]. No one forbade him anything; however, they didn’t let me visit my friend, who is also unjustly imprisoned.”
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Milei’s statements against Lula generated rejection in the Argentine opposition. “We watched with secondhand embarrassment as President Milei offended and insulted the Brazilian government, its president, and an entire country,” said the governor of Buenos Aires province, Axel Kicillof, on his social media, who contacted the Brazilian Foreign Ministry to convey, on behalf of the Buenos Aires Peronism, that “Milei does not represent the feelings of the Argentine people.” Brazil, Kicillof recalled, “is our main trading partner. With these provocations, Milei puts investments, exports, thousands of jobs, and Argentina’s interests at risk, all to support a candidate at Donald Trump’s request.” The Kirchnerist group La Cámpora also criticized the president: “Milei attacks Lula, the president of a brotherly people and our country’s main strategic partner. Always against Argentina, the little man we have in the Casa Rosada,” it said in a statement.
Milei and Lula are not only ideologically at opposite ends, one on the far right and the other on the left, but their personal relationship has never been good. Before assuming the presidency in December 2023, the Argentine had labeled the Brazilian leader as “corrupt” and “communist” — a word he uses as an insult. Lula demanded an apology that never came. On the contrary, Milei insisted then, “The things I said are true.” “What are the problems? That I called him corrupt? Wasn’t he imprisoned for corruption? That I called him communist? Isn’t he? Since when do you have to apologize for telling the truth?”
Responses from Brazilian ministers
On Monday, the counterpoint continued with statements from Brazilian government officials. Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira described the episode triggered by Milei’s insults against Lula during his visit to Brazil as “extremely serious and unacceptable.” However, he emphasized that the resolution to the conflict must be diplomatic: “We have to work to achieve understanding between nations, and diplomacy is precisely based on dialogue.”
Vieira also stated that the Argentine president’s expressions provoked strong rejection in Brazil. According to him, they were “very aggressive” not only against Lula but also against the government, the Brazilian people, and the country’s institutions, and he considered them an interference in Brazilian internal affairs.
Brazil’s Finance Minister, Dario Durigan, also joined the criticism, calling Milei “the clown of the president of Argentina” and contrasting the economic situation of both countries. “He came to Brazil to talk about our country when Argentina has a much higher country risk, a much larger public debt, and much higher inflation,” he said in an interview with Radio Jornal de Pernambuco. The minister advocated “not following the lead of those people who say this will turn into an apocalypse.”
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