Argentine President Javier Milei on Tuesday criticized his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a statement in which he again described him as a “communist” and accused him of interfering in the country’s election campaign last year.
The libertarian president has a tense relationship with the center-left leader of Brazil – Argentina’s main trading partner – who recently demanded that Milei apologize for his public criticism.
Lula “has been in prison for corruption and is a communist,” Milei said in an ambiguous text published on his account on the social network X, entitled “THE PERFECT IDIOT DINOSAUR,” which led to speculation about a possible direct reference to the president of Brazil.
However, the text – whose title seems to be a reference to a book called “Manual of the perfect Latin American idiot” – then points out that “if we had done things as this great idiotic dinosaur said, LLA (Milei’s party) would have lost” the elections, removing the assumption that he was using those words to describe Lula.
The new chapter in the confrontation between the presidents comes before a trip by Milei to Brazil, where the Argentine will meet with former president Jair Bolsonaro, Lula’s political rival.
Lula said last week that he believes Milei owes him and the Brazilian people an apology for having said “a lot of stupid things” about Brazil, Argentina’s main trading partner.
Brazil’s presidential office had no comment when asked by Reuters about Milei’s latest attacks. The Brazilian foreign ministry could not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Milei’s criticism of other leaders has gotten him into trouble recently, including a public spat with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Bolivian President Luis Arce.
In her post on X on Tuesday, Milei claimed that a coup attempt last week in Bolivia was a “fraud,” echoing recent comments from her office that They led the Bolivian Government to summon the Argentine ambassador.
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