Argentine President Javier Milei visited Brazil for the first time on Sunday and ignored his counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in every way. Not only did he not meet with him, he did not even mention him in his highly anticipated speech at CPAC, the far-right convention held over the weekend in Balneario Camboriú where he was received like a star. Milei hugged former President Jair Bolsonaro tightly and did not hide his personal rapport, but he was careful not to add fuel to the fire in his tense relationship with Lula, whom he attacked several times in recent weeks. His Brazilian admirers greeted the Argentine with cries of “Lula, thief, your place is in prison” and Milei responded with a knowing smile. Nothing more.
Milei preferred to give a calm theoretical speech about the evils of 21st century socialism and its formulas for rebuilding Argentina, but those present expected something more. One of the few sweets he gave to the audience was to say that “friend Jair Bolsonaro” is suffering from “judicial persecution.” He said this in passing, while dwelling on the “farce” of the coup in Bolivia or the “bloody dictatorship” in Venezuela.
There was also no mention of the dozens of Bolsonarists involved in the coup attempt that took place in Brasilia on January 8, 2023, who crossed into Argentina fleeing Brazilian justice. For the Brazilian far right, they are “political exiles.” Minutes before Milei took the stage, the presenters of the event asked not to forget them, to always keep them in mind. The Argentine president solemnly ignored them. When the Brazilian government asked for the list of fugitives a few days ago, Argentina handed it over without any problems. No one at the convention seemed to have that detail in mind.
Milei came on stage when it was already known that the far right had crashed in France, but he also preferred to avoid the subject. “The winds of change are blowing in the world. The ideas of impoverishing socialism have failed and people know it (…) they are dying out, and we are going to kick them out of everywhere they are,” he said in one of the few moments when he raised his voice.
Brazil and Argentina are the two driving forces of Mercosur, which is holding its summit of heads of state on Monday, an event that Milei will not attend, claiming to have a very busy schedule. On Sunday, he spent it at his hotel on the seafront of Balneario Camboriú with Bolsonaro and friends. He was accompanied at all times by the Argentine government spokesman, Manuel Adorni; the Minister of Defense, Luis Petri; and his inseparable sister, Karina, Secretary General of the Presidency.
From the hands of Bolsonaro he received a very special gift, the medal of the three ‘i’: “unbroken, undefiled, undefiled”. Although it is almost impossible to translate, it would be something like “the one who does not have triggers, the one who does not die, the one who cannot be fucked”. It is a joke that Bolsonaro finds very funny. Milei also had time to meet with the governor of Santa Catarina, Jorginho Mello, a distinguished Bolsonarista, and with businessmen from the regional federation of industries. Saturday night was a night of football: together with Bolsonaro and the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, she watched as Brazil said goodbye to the Copa América after losing to Uruguay on penalties.
The Argentine leader’s speech put the finishing touch to a CPAC marked by the electoral climate. Brazil holds municipal elections in October, and many of the attendees were far-right candidates from small cities looking for contacts, new ideas and visibility on social media. Among the foreign speakers on Sunday was the Minister of Justice and Public Security of El Salvador, Gustavo Villatoro, the architect of Nayib Bukele’s hardline policy. He proudly commented that he does not stop receiving emissaries from Peru, Argentina, Honduras or Guatemala who want to replicate his formula to end insecurity. “We have told all our friends in Latin America that our experience is like an open book,” he said. Despite the queues and a chaotic organisation, the Brazilian edition of the far-right convention says goodbye after selling out the 3,500 tickets put on sale and with a legion of faithful ready to repeat.
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