SAO PAULO, Brazil — Diplomatic relations between South America’s two largest neighbors have reached an unprecedented low in modern history, after Brazil announced Tuesday it would further downgrade its diplomatic footprint in Argentina in response to repeated personal insults from Argentine President Javier Milei targeting Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
According to a spokesperson for Brazil’s foreign ministry, who spoke to the Associated Press, Milei has labeled Lula “a thief” on three separate occasions since this past Sunday. The aggressive rhetoric is not a new turn for the Argentine leader: he first used the same derogatory language on July 25 during a party convention held by Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and a key political ally of Milei. Jair Bolsonaro, Lula’s top opponent in Brazil’s upcoming October general election, is currently under house arrest serving a 27-year prison sentence for conviction on coup attempt charges.
During that same July convention, Milei also launched a verbal attack on Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, calling him “trash”. The criticism came after de Moraes blocked Milei’s request to visit the imprisoned former Brazilian president.
This is not the first diplomatic retaliation Brazil has taken over Milei’s hostile comments. Shortly after Milei’s first public attack on Lula in July, Brazil recalled its ambassador to Buenos Aires, Julio Bitelli, leaving only a lower-ranked chargé d’affaires to manage Brazilian interests in Argentina. The foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that Bitelli will not be returning to his post in Argentina for as long as Milei continues his offensive rhetoric against Lula and other Brazilian officials.
Lula has not yet issued a public response to Milei’s latest insults. The two leaders have maintained a deliberately cold relationship since Milei took office in December 2023, a rift deepened by Milei’s close political alignment with former U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration is openly at odds with the leftist Brazilian leader.
The bilateral dispute between Brazil and Argentina comes amid a separate escalating diplomatic clash between Brazil and the United States. Earlier on Tuesday, the U.S. State Department announced it had revoked the visa of Brazil’s ambassador to Washington. The move was framed as retaliation for Brazil’s decision last month to deny visas to two U.S. diplomats who sought to enter Brazil ahead of the October election, a trip Brazilian authorities viewed as inappropriate interference in domestic electoral affairs.
The growing tensions around foreign influence in Brazil’s election come just days after Lula was officially confirmed as the Workers’ Party candidate for reelection at the party’s national convention, where multiple speakers raised alarms about coordinated foreign meddling in the upcoming vote. Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, a conservative who will serve as Lula’s running mate again in the October poll, used a sharp jab at both foreign leaders during his convention speech, noting that Brazil’s robust electronic voting system was so secure that “it doesn’t accept any votes from Argentines and Americans.”
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