On July 25, acting on behalf of the imperial London and Wall Street apparatus which seeks Brazil’s destruction, Argentine President Javier Milei addressed the national convention of Brazil’s Liberal Party (PL) in Sao Paulo which officially launched the presidential candidacy of Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, now serving a 27-year jail term for plotting to overthrow President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Speaking before an audience containing few prominent Brazilians, and in which the only other foreign presentation was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s video greeting, Milei delivered an obscenity-laden speech attacking the Brazilian President as a “shit socialist,” a “thief,” and a “jailbird,” and praised Flavio as the man who will “stop Lula” in the Oct. 4 elections and set Brazil straight by putting it again onto the path to economic liberalism.
But Flavio, who is reportedly not too bright, is running at least eight points behind Lula in the polls and has failed to garner support from other Brazilian conservative parties that backed his father’s presidency. Not even his own stepmother, Michele Bolsonaro, showed up for the PL gathering, sending only a video message instead. She is a power within a currently-factionalized Bolsonaro clan and her support for Flavio is dubious.
Milei’s speech was so offensive that Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira immediately recalled Brazil’s ambassador from Buenos Aires, Julio Bitelli, back to Brasilia for consultations. Argentina’s ambassador in Brasilia, Daniel Raimondi, was also called in to the Foreign Ministry (Itamaraty) to receive an official protest and a demand that he explain Milei’s egregious behavior.
In an official statement announcing the summoning of the Argentine ambassador, Itamaraty charged, “there is no precedent for a foreign president who, while on Brazilian soil, has launched a barrage of attacks and insults against the Head of State, democratic institutions—including the Judiciary—and the Brazilian people. It is particularly regrettable that this disgraceful episode involves the president of a country with which Brazil has enjoyed 203 years of friendship and cooperation and which counts Brazil as its main trading partner.”
Milei didn’t limit his insults to President Lula. Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had denied Milei permission to visit Jair Bolsonaro during his trip, which drove Milei into a frenzied attack on De Moraes as a piece “of bald garbage” who “didn’t let me visit my unfairly imprisoned friend.”
The Argentine President has now designated himself as a regional leader of recently elected right-wing governments in Ibero-America and is embarking on a tour after his Brazil appearance purportedly as a representative of Donald Trump. He will attend the July 28 inauguration of Peru’s new President Keiko Fujimori, followed by a trip to Quito, Ecuador to meet with President Daniel Noboa, a key Trump ally in security matters. That will be followed by his attendance at the Aug. 7 inauguration of Colombia’s new President Fernando de la Espriella.
In Brazil, Milei raved that many Ibero-American nations have now seen the light and elected proponents of economic liberalism, and that Brazil will be next in the October elections. Milei also said he has no intention of apologizing for his remarks about Lula, and in response to Brazil recalling its ambassador from Buenos Aires he doubled down with further attacks, charging Lula with having interfered in Argentina’s 2023 election and visiting and colluding with former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, one of Lula’s longtime friends, who is being held under house arrest in Buenos Aires on phony corruption charges.
