The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will host a group of around ten Argentine deputies who oppose President Javier Milei in Brasília next week, according to reporting published on Friday (28) by journalist Valdo Cruz's blog on the G1 news portal. Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, known as Itamaraty, and from the Secretariat of Institutional Relations (SRI), the presidency's political liaison office, are expected to take part in the meetings, which are part of a strategy to normalize relations between Brazil and Argentina.
Brazil and Argentina are historic allies and South America's two largest economies, founding partners of Mercosur, the regional trade bloc. Diplomatic ties, however, were downgraded to the level of chargé d'affaires, below ambassadors, after Milei began attacking Lula publicly, calling him a "thief", "corrupt" and an "ex-convict". On the Brazilian side, ministers Dario Durigan (Finance) and Guilherme Boulos (Secretary-General of the Presidency) hit back, calling the Argentine president a "clown" and a "pathetic caricature".
For the Brazilian government, engaging with the deputies opens a channel of dialogue with the neighboring country's Congress that does not run through the Casa Rosada, Argentina's presidential palace. Presidential aides quoted by G1 say Brazil is willing to talk to both the opposition and Milei's team to move past the recent friction. They stress that, despite the diplomatic downgrade, nothing has changed in the day-to-day relationship between the two countries. "Everything is following its normal rhythm", one Lula aide told the blog. Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira has said publicly that ties will only return to ambassadorial level once Milei's attacks on Lula stop.
The interests at play
The outreach comes in an election year in Brazil, which gives the gesture a political reading in Buenos Aires. Milei openly backs the candidacy of senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), Lula's main challenger in the October vote. Argentina's foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, who at first tried to lower the temperature by saying the disagreements between the two presidents would not spill into the institutional arena, has since declared that the region is undergoing an ideological shift and that he hopes it reaches Brazil as well.
Among the deputies arranging the talks with Itamaraty are Nicolás Massot and Martín Lousteau. On social media, they say the goal of the meeting is, in their words, to "open a channel of parliamentary diplomacy and help rebuild a bond that should never have been damaged". According to GloboNews, the agendas and topics of the meetings are still being defined, including who will receive the lawmakers in Brasília.
So far, G1 is the outlet that has detailed the arrangement. SBT News also reported that the opposition to Milei requested a meeting at Itamaraty. There is no scheduled direct contact between Lula and Milei.