MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian Ambassador to BA summoned by Lula and Vieira

Bitelli's trip to Brasilia is a message from Lula to Milei

Argentine President Javier Milei's attitude of speaking his truth at any cost is about to take its toll on the diplomatic front, as confrontations with Brazil and Bolivia flare up with a possible reshaping of the current scenario in the near future.

 Following Madrid's decision to recall the Spanish ambassador in Buenos Aires over Milei's unapologetic comments about Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his wife, the Brazilian government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took a step in the same direction when Ambassador Julio Bitelli was summoned to meet with the president and Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira this past Sunday.

It has not yet been determined whether Bitelli will go back to the Argentine capital and, if so, when, although according to Clarín, the diplomat would return to his post shortly and his presence in Brasilia “was not a protest”, but a situation to “map opportunities” and to know how the bilateral situation is. Even so, the measure constituted a warning to Buenos Aires to cease its uncontrolled behavior, the publication pointed out. It also mentioned that the San Martin Palace had found out about the episode through the media.

Milei dubbed Lula da Silva a “corrupt communist” during the 2023 presidential campaign and has never apologized for it. In addition, Lula endorsed Sergio Massa while Milei had the endorsement of former Brazilian President Jair Boolsonaro, with whom he met earlier this month instead of attending the Mercosur Summit in Asuncion to avoid meeting face-to-face with the leader of the Workers' Party (PT). Milei also lashed out at Colombia's Gustavo Petro with his no-holds-barred tirade.

In a similar case, Bolivia's ambassador Ramiro Tapia has also left Buenos Aires “in consultation” after Milei said that the June 26 coup d'état had been staged by President Luis Arce Catacora. ”He is here (still) our ambassador in consultation, we have summoned him, we really regret the Argentine government's misplaced statements,” Bolivian Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa said Monday, quoted by Clarín.