MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula aide insults Milei over plan to campaign for Bolsonaro's son in Brazil

“What does this imbecile think he has to teach the Brazilian people?” wrote Guilherme Boulos, chief minister of the Secretariat General of the Presidency and a figure close to Lula

A senior Brazilian government official called Argentine President Javier Milei an “imbecile” after he announced he will travel to Brazil on July 25 to take part in the launch of the presidential candidacy of Flávio Bolsonaro, the main opposition figure to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

“What does this imbecile think he has to teach the Brazilian people?” wrote Guilherme Boulos, chief minister of the Secretariat General of the Presidency and a figure close to Lula, on the social media platform X. In the same message he said Milei is “the most rejected president in Latin America” and accused him of raising the working day to twelve hours and of seeking to legalize organ trafficking. Neither claim corresponds to current Argentine government policy: the labor reform passed does not establish mandatory twelve-hour workdays, and the organ reference relates to remarks Milei made before taking office, not to any official initiative. Boulos has so far been the only figure in Lula's inner circle to comment publicly on the trip.

Milei confirmed his schedule during a radio interview. Besides the event in São Paulo, where the Liberal Party will proclaim Flávio Bolsonaro as its candidate ahead of the October 4 election, the Argentine leader said he intends to travel to Brasília to visit former President Jair Bolsonaro, the senator's father. That visit, however, is not assured: the former leader is under house arrest after being sentenced to 27 years for leading a coup attempt, and a meeting would require special authorization from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

The tour also includes Peru, where Milei will attend the inauguration of Keiko Fujimori on July 28; Colombia, for the swearing-in of Abelardo de la Espriella on August 7; and Ecuador, to meet President Daniel Noboa. The Argentine president framed the trips as part of a strategy to open up trade and attract investment. “Argentina should have three times the trade it currently has,” he said, defending the usefulness of his international tours.

The episode strains relations between the two largest Mercosur partners, whose governments hold opposing ideological positions. Milei has openly backed the Bolsonaro camp since before taking office, and last week he received Flávio Bolsonaro in Buenos Aires, part of a tour by the senator that also took him to Washington to lobby against the imposition of US tariffs on Brazil. Lula, who is seeking reelection, leads the polls against his main rival.