Minister Paulo Pimenta, from the Social Communication Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic (Secom), once again called on Argentine President Javier Milei to apologize to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) for alleged offenses during the country's electoral campaign in this year.
The charge comes during the first days of Milei's term as president of Argentina, who took office a week ago and is implementing the first measures of the new government.
Pimenta stated that Brazil will maintain pragmatic relations with its neighbor, the continent's largest trading partner and third largest in the world. Lula did not call Milei after confirming his victory and did not even attend his inauguration last week.
“If he [Milei] If you are interested in having a dialogue with President Lula, first of all, you have to apologize. He gratuitously offended the president”, said Pimenta in an interview with the newspaper The globe in this weekend.
On the other hand, Paulo Pimenta sees a certain progress in the relationship between the two presidents after Milei sent a letter to Lula at the end of November wishing for “fruitful work and the construction of ties that consolidate the role that Argentina and Brazil can and must play in the agreement of the nations.”
Lula was even invited by Milei in the letter to go to the inauguration. However, he waived the invitation and sent Minister Mauro Vieira, of Foreign Affairs, to the event.
“The gesture, in relation to China and Brazil, shows that he is coming down from the platform. I thought it would take longer, but it was a reality check”, added Pimenta, highlighting that Lula did not go to the Argentine president’s inauguration due to “agenda contingencies and other things”.
Among the reasons was the presence of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and a large delegation of right-wing allies, which could generate friction with Lula and his supporters.
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