MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei has nothing to apologize to Lula for, says Spokesman Adorni

Lula and Milei are to attend the July 8 Mercosur Summit in Paraguay unless something happens, Adorni noted

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva insisted that he was not talking to his Argentine counterpart Javier Milei until the latter apologized to him and his country for his derogatory remarks during last year's campaign in which the Libertarian leader spoke of a “corrupt Communist” while remaining close to Lula's adversary and then incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.

“I did not talk to the president of Argentina because I think he should apologize to Brazil and to me. He said a lot of nonsense. I just want him to apologize. I love Argentina, it is a country that I like very much, it is a very important country for Brazil, and Brazil is very important for Argentina. It is not a president of the Republic who is going to create tares between Brazil and Argentina,” Lula said Wednesday.

But, in Buenos Aires, Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni said there was “nothing to regret,” thus upping the diplomatic tension between South America's largest two countries. In Adorni's words, Milei did nothing “to regret, for now.”

“Whatever President Lula wants is within his wishes and we respect him, but the President has not committed anything he has to regret, at least for now,” Adorni argued during his traditional morning press briefing. Adorni also said both leaders crossed paths for the first time ever during the G7 summit in Italy and greeted each other “cordially as befits two presidents of two nations.” They are to meet again at the July 8 Mercosur Summit in Paraguay “unless something changes,” Adorni also explained. Despite Adorni's statement, they were not seen exchanging any words and there are no photographs of the two of them together.

Lula also said that his government was dealing “very diplomatically” with dozens of ultra-right-wing activists who participated in the Jan. 8, 2023, riots and sought political asylum in Argentina in recent months. Lula insisted that some of these fugitives had already been convicted and therefore the Brazilian government was considering whether to request their extradition or have them serve their prison sentences in Argentina.

Last week, Brazil joined the Strasbourg Convention on the Transfer of Convicted Persons applying to any requests involving countries that have ratified the treaty. The agreement seeks to facilitate the social reintegration of the convicted person, giving foreigners who have committed crimes in other jurisdictions the possibility of serving their sentence in their countries of origin. In this case, it would be in their country of choice.

Lula did not attend Milei's Dec. 10 inauguration despite a personal invitation handwritten to him by Milei and delivered by [now Foreign Minister] Diana Mondino to Brazil's top diplomat Mauro Vieira.

“Both nations have many challenges ahead and I am convinced that a change in the economic, social, and cultural spheres, based on the principles of freedom, will position us as competitive countries in which their citizens can develop their capabilities to the maximum and thus, choose the future they want,” Milei wrote back then.

“Democracy is the voice of the people and must always be respected. My congratulations to the Argentine institutions for conducting the electoral process and to the Argentine people who participated in the election day in an orderly and peaceful manner,” Lula said after the elections.