Buenos Aires, Argentina — Faced with choosing between a far-right convention to attack its enemies and a presidential summit to discuss regional trade policy, Argentina President Javier Milei He preferred the stadium full of cheering fans.
The libertarian leader was in Brazil on Sunday, preparing to headline the national version of CPAC, the conservative political action conference, along with former President Javier Bolsonaro in the city of Balneario Camboriu, in southern Brazil.
By skipping the summit of the Mercosur trade bloc in Paraguay and sneaking up on Bolsonaro just days after federal police charged the right-wing populist in a Scheme to embezzle Saudi diamonds.Milei issued another harsh rebuke to The leftist president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silvaescalating a dangerous dispute with his country’s largest trading partner.
It was the latest example of Milei’s provocative foreign policy, which seeks to attract global attention through friendships with far-right allies rather than following diplomatic conventions.
Bolsonaro posted a video on Sunday in which he greeted Milei with a big hug and a pat on the back before meeting with him and his sister and advisor, Karina Milei, among other attendees. The two men stood next to their respective national flags for a photo op that would have looked presidential had Bolsonaro not been a disgraced former president. under police investigation for your alleged attempt to subvert the result of the 2022 elections in Brazil.
The night before, Bolsonaro opened the Brazilian CPAC on Saturday with a fiery speech in which he declared his desire to see former us president donald trump return to the White House next year. He and Milei were seen together in a downtown hotel lobby filled with empty wine glasses later that night, looking Uruguay expels Brazil from the Copa América 2024.
From the irascible Milei came to power last December in a promise to fix Argentina’s worst economic crisis In two decades, relations between long-standing allies and raw materials powerhouses have deteriorated rapidly. Milei has branded Lula a “communist” and has refused to deal with him. Lula has turned her back on Milei and demanded an apology for what she called Milei’s “nonsense.”
The ideological enemies crossed paths for the first time in the Group of Seven summit last month in Italywhere their efforts to avoid each other as much as physically possible made local headlines.
Experts say mingling on the sidelines of the South American trading bloc’s meeting on Monday would have offered Milei a low-risk opportunity to ease tensions with Brazil, which buys nearly a sixth of Argentina’s exports, supplies most of Argentina’s automotive industry and supports its neighbor. offers to get what you need so much help from the International Monetary Fund.
Instead, Milei has redoubled his commitment to foreign policy, which experts have criticized as misguided.
“It seems like she’s shooting herself in the foot,” Michael Shifter, a Latin America scholar at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, said of Milei. “It is shocking and counterproductive for him to mock Lula in this way because there could be a great cost to Argentina, which could affect her ability to carry out her policies.”
The president’s ideologically driven strategy triggered a political storm earlier this year in Spainthe second largest foreign investor in Argentina, when Milei avoided meetings with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s socialist government and instead gave a speech criticizing socialism at a far-right rally organized by the country’s Vox Party.
The snub turned into a diplomatic crisis between the historic allies when Milei called Corrupt and Spain withdrew its ambassador from Buenos Aires.
Despite five trips to the United States since taking office, Milei has yet to enter the White House; hugged Trump at CPAC in Washington, united by their love for free markets in Texas with billionaire Tesla executive Elon Musk and met with top technology CEOs in Silicon Valley.
“He wants to present himself as a rock star of international politics who does generate admiration in some sectors of Argentina,” said Fabio Rodríguez, director of the consulting firm M, based in Buenos Aires.&R Associates. “But polls already indicate that this may be changing, that people are seeing this as a burden, feeling abandoned in the sense that their president spends his time on tour while things do not improve daily.”
This time with Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy with a population of about 200 million, experts say the stakes are even higher. Pressures increase in Argentinawhere the local currency hit a historic low of 1,430 pesos per dollar last week on the black market, where Argentines sell their depreciated pesos.
“Argentina has much more to lose than Brazil,” said Cristian Buttié, director of the pollster CB Consultora.
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