Argentine President Javier Milei questioned this Friday (28) the need to apologize to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) for having called the Brazilian “corrupt” and “communist” during the campaign.
“What’s the problem with me calling him corrupt? Wasn’t he arrested for that? And what did I say… communist? Wasn’t he arrested for that?” [Lula] “Aren’t you a communist? Since when do you have to apologize for telling the truth? Or are we so sick of political correctness that we can’t say anything to the left even when it’s true?”, asked Milei, when asked if he would apologize to Lula, in an interview with the channel La Nación +.
Milei said that the condition that he apologize to the Brazilian president is “such a small discussion, it seems like a discussion between pre-teens”. And she stated that the things she said “are true.”
“We need to rise above these insignificances because the interests of Argentines and Brazilians are more important than the inflated ego of some leftist. [‘zurdito’, em espanhol]”, he expressed.
This week, in an interview with UOL, Lula said that he didn’t talk to the Argentine because he said “a lot of nonsense” and that’s why he expected Milei to apologize to him [Lula] and to Brazil.
Milei compared the criticism of Lula with those exchanged with Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who ended up definitively withdrawing his ambassador from Buenos Aires.
When the journalist said that the motivations were not the same, since before Milei’s insult to the Spaniard’s wife, a Sanchez minister had already insinuated that the Argentine president used drugs during the campaign, Milei countered by saying that Lula “did similar things (…) actively getting involved in our electoral campaign.”
“Do you think the negative campaign that the [ex-candidato Sergio] Massa did against me, driven by Brazil, wasn’t it aggressive? (…) Are they going to apologize to me for the amount of lies they told throughout the campaign? Those who lied demand that the other apologize for telling the truth?”, he expressed.
Milei was referring to the Workers’ Party marketing experts hired by Massa’s campaign. He even accused the Brazilians of having people cough in the audience during the debate to distract him.
This is the first time that Milei has responded to Lula’s request for an apology for his statements. Previously, when questioned about the matter, Casa Rosada spokesman Manuel Adorni had said that the Argentine had done nothing that he should regret.
The heads of state have never met in person since Milei’s inauguration in December. On that occasion, Lula sent his Foreign Minister, Mauro Vieira, to represent him. At the ceremony, former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), a guest of Milei, sat in a prominent place, alongside other presidents present.
In April, Milei sent an informal letter through his chancellor Diana Mondino, who met with Vieira in Brasília, in which he proposed a bilateral meeting due to the importance of economic relations between the countries.
A CNN found that Lula never responded to the letter and, therefore, Argentina did not request a bilateral meeting with the Brazilian at the Mercosur Summit, which will take place on July 8, in Asunción. This will be the first time that both will meet to discuss issues of the trade bloc.
The two presidents crossed paths at the G7 summit in Italy, but they only greeted each other and there was no bilateral conversation, according to the Argentine presidency.
A CNN asked Palácio do Planalto for a position on Milei’s statements and is awaiting a response.
Source: CNN Brasil
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