Brazil downgrades ties with Argentina after new insults from Milei
The Brazilian government has chosen to downgrade the level of bilateral relations with Argentina following President Javier Milei’s repeated attacks against Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the Supreme Court.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations has decided that Brazil’s ambassador to Buenos Aires, Julio Bitelli, should not return to Argentina as long as Milei’s attacks continue. The insults were deemed an unacceptable breach of respect in bilateral relations.
Brazil will now be represented in the neighboring country by a chargé d’affaires, a lower-ranking position that reflects this diplomatic downgrade.
On July 26, Brazilian Ambassador Bitelli was recalled to Brasília after Milei insulted President Lula at a convention of the Liberal Party (PL), which nominated Senator Flávio Bolsonaro to run for president.
On that occasion, Milei called Lula a “convict” and attacked Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the presiding judge in the trial that sentenced Flávio’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, to 27 years in prison for attempting a coup d’état.
“There is no precedent for a foreign president who, while on Brazilian soil, hurls insults and offenses at the head of state, democratic institutions – including the judiciary – and the Brazilian people,” the Foreign Ministry countered in a statement.
In the days following the PL convention, Milei’s attacks against Lula continued with insults such as “thief” and “socialist scum.” Milei also continued to insult the Supreme Court in public appearances.
These repeated attacks have prompted Brazil to decide not to send Ambassador Julio Bitelli back to Argentina. The decision is expected to remain in effect as long as the insults continue.
Argentina
In a statement posted on social media, the Argentine government lamented the Brazilian government’s “unilateral” decision, arguing that it was based on “purely ideological” considerations.
“We have never responded to a political disagreement with an institutional measure. This is the principle that Argentina upholds today,” said the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Brazilian government has argued that it maintains diplomatic relations with governments of all ideological persuasions, and that the insults were the reason for downgrading diplomatic relations.
Repercussions
The Brazilian decision made headlines in the neighboring country’s newspapers. Clarín, one of Argentina’s most established newspapers, described the decision as a “harsh diplomatic sanction.”
The newspaper Infobae reported that relations between the two countries are in an “unprecedented crisis,” noting that the measure is causing concern among Argentina’s business community.
Brazil is Argentina’s main trading partner, accounting for 12.6 percent of the country’s goods exports — ahead of China at 9.9 percent and the US at 9.8 percent – for January through June of this year, as per data from Argentina’s National Institute of Statistics and Censuses.
In 2025, Argentina ranked as the third-largest destination for Brazilian exports, accounting for USD 18.1 billion in goods sold, which represents 5.2 percent of Brazil’s total exports. The data comes from Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry, and Trade.
