MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei on Lula: released over a procedural flaw, not for being innocent

Lula is a “thief and corrupt,” Milei said; he was “convicted and imprisoned, and was released over an administrative flaw rather than for being innocent.”

Argentine President Javier Milei repeated his accusations against Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday, arguing that the corruption convictions once against him were annulled on formal grounds, in remarks that came just as Brazil's ambassador to Buenos Aires was preparing to return after being recalled for consultations.

Lula is a “thief and corrupt,” Milei said; he was “convicted and imprisoned, and was released over an administrative flaw rather than for being innocent.” He spoke in an interview recorded at the presidential palace and broadcast by LN+. Asked whether his tone was aggressive, he replied that calling a thief a thief is milder than the act of theft itself. These are the Argentine president's accusations, not judicial findings.

The legal sequence is more complex than described. Lula was convicted in 2017 and 2019 in the Lava Jato investigation and spent 580 days in detention. He left prison in November 2019 after a Supreme Federal Court ruling holding that no one may be jailed before appeals are exhausted, a decision grounded in the presumption of innocence. In March 2021, Justice Edson Fachin annulled the convictions on the grounds that the Curitiba court lacked jurisdiction, a finding the full court upheld eight votes to three. That June, the court's Second Panel further ruled that Judge Sergio Moro, who had issued the first conviction and later served as Jair Bolsonaro's justice minister, had been biased — a ruling on due process rather than a technicality. In 2023, the court also annulled the evidence gathered by the Lava Jato team.

Lula holds no valid convictions, regained his political rights and was elected president in 2022. No court ruled on the merits of the accusations.

Milei described his remarks as spontaneous and framed them within a regional ideological dispute. He said he is criticized for what he says while the insults he claims to have received from figures such as Gustavo Petro, Evo Morales, Rafael Correa and Pedro Sánchez go unmentioned.

The crisis began on Saturday, July 25, when Milei addressed the Liberal Party convention in São Paulo, backing Flávio Bolsonaro's candidacy. There he called Lula a thief, corrupt and a convict, and directed an insult about the physical appearance of Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Itamaraty summoned Argentine Ambassador Daniel Raimondi, called the episode unprecedented and recalled Julio Bitelli. Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira ruled out tougher measures for now, such as withdrawing diplomatic representation; the embassy is being run by Minister-Counsellor Eduardo Uziel.

On Thursday, Brasília authorized Bitelli's return without setting a date. According to Infobae, Lula sharpened his tone over the weekend at an event in Ceará, saying that as long as he lives the far right will not govern Brazil again.