The Brazilian Foreign Ministry recalled its ambassador to Buenos Aires and summoned Argentina’s envoy in Brasilia for an explanation after President Javier Milei insulted his counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, during a visit to São Paulo to support Lula’s electoral rival, Flávio Bolsonaro.
Speaking at a convention of Brazil’s Liberal Party on Saturday, Milei referred to Lula, without naming him directly, as a ‘thief,’ a ‘former convict’ and a ‘totalitarian.’
‘If in Argentina we have what we used to call the ‘Kuka Risk’ as an economic factor, here in Brazil today you have the ‘Lula Risk’,” Milei said, referring to sovereign risk. Kuka is a pejorative term used in Argentina for supporters of former presidents Néstor and Cristina Kirchner and their political movement.
Milei also accused the Brazilian government of orchestrating and financing an “anti-Argentina campaign” during the 2026 World Cup, following accusations of racism and cheating directed at the country and its players.
“Do you know who put the most money into this anti-Argentina campaign? The Brazilian government,” Milei said in an interview with Radio Mitre after returning from São Paulo on Sunday.
