Diana Mondino, who will be Foreign Minister in the new Javier Milei government, made a quick trip to Brasilia today to meet with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and hand him a letter from Milei to President Lula da Silva, inviting him to Milei’s Dec. 10 inauguration. The trip was kept under wraps “until the last minute,” one source told the state news agency Telam. Argentina’s current Ambassador to Brazil Daniel Scioli and Brazil’s Ambassador in Buenos Aires Julio Bitelli accompanied Mondino on the trip. Recall that on Nov. 23, Noticias Argentinas had reported Mondino denying that Milei intended to break ties with Brazil and China—which Milei had indeed vowed to do, during his election campaign—saying that such a move would “make no sense.”
There is no love lost between Lula and Milei, because Milei had insulted Lula several times during his campaign, labeling him a “corrupt communist,” and Lula didn’t hide his support for Milei’s opponent Sergio Massa. Lula reportedly didn’t plan to attend the inauguration until he got an apology for those insults. The invitation letter had quite a different tone, extending Milei’s “most cordial greetings” to Lula, expressing the hope that the Brazilian would join him at the inauguration.
The letter read: “We know that our two countries are intimately linked by geography and history, and based on that we wish to continue sharing areas of complementarity at the level of physical integration, trade and international presence so that this joint action on both sides will translate into growth and prosperity for Argentines and Brazilians.” Milei said he hoped that “our joint time as Presidents and heads of government will be a period of fruitful work and strengthening ties that will consolidate the role that Argentina and Brazil can and must play in the concert of nations.”
Brazil’s piggish former President and Milei pal Jair Bolsonaro will attend the inauguration, accompanied by a delegation of 20 parliamentarians and three governors affiliated with his right-wing Liberal Party. Telam reported today that in comments to Folha de São Paulo last week, Bolsonaro warned that should Lula attend the inauguration, “he will be booed” by Milei’s friends, but that he’ll have to “sit there and take it.” That was right after Milei issued a statement saying that Lula would “be warmly welcomed” at the inauguration.
