Brazil's Ministério das Relações Exteriores (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), known as the Itamaraty, issued a note late on Tuesday rejecting fresh attacks by Argentine President Javier Milei on President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on Brazil's electronic voting system and on its judiciary. The ministry said the remarks amount to a "new and unacceptable attempt at outside interference in the Brazilian democratic process".
The statement came four days before the presidential runoff, set for Sunday, in which Lula, of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers' Party), is seeking re-election against Flávio Bolsonaro, of the Partido Liberal (Liberal Party).
What the note says
The text says Milei is repeating "lies spread by those who lost the elections", and treats his remarks as incompatible with the conduct expected of a head of state of a neighbouring and friendly country. The ministry calls the Argentine president's comments "unbalanced" and links the allegations to the challenge to the 2022 result, without naming Jair Bolsonaro.
On the ballot box, the note is blunt: Brazil's electronic voting system is "demonstrably secure" and has never recorded an irregularity — an assessment that, according to the Itamaraty, was endorsed by the international observers who monitored this year's first round.
The closing passage hands the matter back to voters. "The decision on Brazil's future belongs exclusively to the Brazilian people," the document says, adding that the country votes on Sunday free of outside interference.
What Milei posted
On social media, Milei shared an excerpt of Lula's interview with the broadcaster SBT the previous night and wrote that he hoped the "last dirty-campaign trick" would not include stealing the election. He also reposted a clip from the debate between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro held on Sunday, calling the Brazilian president an "authoritarian adored by the local progressives". Milei is an open ally of the Bolsonaro family.
A relationship already downgraded
The friction is not new, and the note lands on a diplomatic relationship that had already been scaled back. Since August, Brazil has had no ambassador in Buenos Aires, and the Argentine ambassador was told to leave Brasília: both capitals are now represented by chargés d'affaires.
On 26 July, Brazil's ambassador to Argentina, Bitelli, was recalled to Brasília after Milei called Lula a "convict" at the Partido Liberal convention that formalised Flávio Bolsonaro's candidacy. At the same event, Milei attacked Supremo Tribunal Federal (Supreme Federal Court) Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw the case in which Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting a coup.
The political damage runs alongside an economic relationship that is hard to unwind: Brazil is Argentina's main trading partner, and the two economies are tightly integrated, above all in the automotive and industrial chains — which is why the diplomatic downgrade has not, so far, been matched by trade measures.
As of publication, the Argentine government had not responded officially to the Brazilian note.
With information from Agência Brasil and Estado de Minas.
