MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil downgrades ties with Argentina to chargé d'affaires level over Milei's remarks

The crisis began on Saturday, July 25, when Milei addressed the Liberal Party convention in São Paulo in support of Flávio Bolsonaro's candidacy. There he called Lula a thief

Brazil decided on Tuesday to downgrade its diplomatic relations with Argentina to the level of chargé d'affaires and to postpone indefinitely the return of its ambassador in Buenos Aires, Julio Glinternick Bitelli, following a fresh round of remarks by Argentine President Javier Milei against his counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

It is the first time in decades that Brasília has taken a step of this scope with Argentina. The embassy will continue operating, but without a career diplomat at its head. It does not amount to a rupture of relations.

Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira summoned Argentina's ambassador, Daniel Raimondi, and handed him a note of protest setting out the decision. According to La Nación, Itamaraty also requested his return to Argentina. There is no record of his being declared persona non grata or formally expelled, and Argentina's foreign ministry has not said whether he will remain in Brasília.

As long as Milei's attacks continue, the decision is to downgrade relations to chargé d'affaires level, an adviser to Vieira told El Cronista, counting three sets of remarks by the Argentine president since Sunday. Lula has not commented personally.

Argentina's foreign ministry replied that the measure was adopted unilaterally and said it regretted Brazil's decision to continue isolating itself from the rest of the region over ideological matters. Without referring to Milei's remarks, it said there had been numerous instances in recent years of political statements and endorsements exchanged between figures in both countries, and that Argentina had chosen not to turn them into diplomatic incidents. It added that it had never responded to a political disagreement with an institutional measure.

The crisis began on Saturday, July 25, when Milei addressed the Liberal Party convention in São Paulo in support of Flávio Bolsonaro's candidacy. There he called Lula a thief, a convict and socialist garbage, and directed an insult about the physical appearance of Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Itamaraty recalled Bitelli the following day and described the episode as unprecedented. On Wednesday, after meeting Vieira and being received by Lula, the decision was to keep monitoring relations, and on Thursday Brasília authorized his return without setting a date. Milei returned to the subject over the weekend and again on Tuesday.

In those remarks he said Lula had been released from prison on an administrative argument and complained that he had not congratulated him after his 2023 win, accusing him of having worked for the rival candidate. Lula's convictions were annulled by the Supreme Federal Court, which also found the judge who issued the first one to have been biased and struck down the evidence gathered in the Lava Jato investigation.

The deterioration has been cumulative. In January, Brazil stopped representing Argentine interests in Caracas after a post by Milei, and Lula did not attend the signing of the Mercosur-European Union agreement in Asunción. Brazil is Argentina's main trading partner and the two countries form the bloc's core. The decision coincided with the United States revoking the visa of Brazil's ambassador in Washington.