Milei heads conservative forum in Brazil, snubbing Lula and exacerbating a political dispute

Faced with a choice between a far-right convention to attack his enemies and a presidential summit to discuss regional trade policy, Argentine President Javier Milei preferred a stadium full of cheering supporters.

The libertarian leader was in Brazil on Sunday, preparing to headline the national version of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) alongside former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in the southern Brazilian city of Balneario Camboriu.

By skipping the Mercosur trade bloc summit in Paraguay and sneaking up on Bolsonaro just days after federal police charged the right-wing populist with a scheme to embezzle Saudi diamonds, Milei lashed out again at Brazil’s leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, escalating a dangerous dispute with his country’s biggest trading partner.

It was the latest example of Milei’s provocative foreign policy, which seeks to attract global attention through friendships with far-right allies rather than following diplomatic conventions.

Bolsonaro opened Brazil’s CPAC on Saturday with a fiery speech in which he declared his desire to see former US President Donald Trump return to the White House next year.

He and Milei were seen together later that night, watching Uruguay eliminate Brazil from the Copa America in a room full of spectators and empty wine glasses.

Experts say mingling on the sidelines of the South American trade bloc’s meeting on Monday would have offered Milei a low-risk opportunity to ease tensions with Brazil, which buys nearly a sixth of Argentina’s exports, supplies most of Argentina’s auto industry and backs its neighbor’s bid for much-needed aid from the International Monetary Fund.

Instead, Milei has doubled down on a foreign policy that experts have criticized as misguided. Bolsonaro in particular, under police investigation for his alleged attempt to subvert the outcome of the 2022 election, is seen as a political liability.

“It seems like he’s shooting himself in the foot,” Michael Shifter, a Latin America scholar at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, said of Milei. “It’s shocking and counterproductive for him to mock Lula in this way because there could be a huge cost to Argentina, which could affect its ability to carry out its policies.”

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