Brazil’s foreign ministry recalled its ambassador to Argentina, Julio Bitelli, for consultations and summoned the Argentine ambassador in Brasília, Daniel Raimondi, to demand explanations on Sunday, after President Javier Milei launched a series of personal attacks against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The measures, which Brazilian diplomatic sources described as a response to an “unprecedented” and “infamous” episode, were triggered by Milei’s appearance at a convention of the Liberal Party that formalised the presidential candidacy of Flávio Bolsonaro, son of jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro. Without naming Lula directly, Milei referred to him as a “thief” and a “convict”, and called Moraes “bald trash” after the justice denied him permission to visit the elder Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest for plotting a coup.

Viewed from Brasília, the remarks constituted a grave breach of protocol and an interference in domestic affairs. Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira labelled the statements “harsh, rude and unacceptable” and said the government needed to understand why a foreign head of state would use Brazilian territory to attack its institutions. The foreign ministry’s official note stressed that there was “no precedent” for a visiting president to accumulate “aggressions and offences” against the head of state, the judiciary and the Brazilian people, and described the incident as especially lamentable given 203 years of bilateral friendship and Brazil’s status as Argentina’s main trading partner. The president of the Supreme Court, Edson Fachin, separately deplored the “disrespectful reference” to Moraes as incompatible with the civility that should govern relations between states.

From Buenos Aires, the Milei government signalled that no official apology would be forthcoming. A senior official told the Argentine daily La Nación that “perhaps not saying anything more is a way to de-escalate,” while the president himself escalated the dispute hours later by accusing the Brazilian government of financing 25 per cent of an “anti-Argentine campaign” during the recent World Cup, without providing evidence. Argentine opposition figures, including Buenos Aires province governor Axel Kicillof and former president Alberto Fernández, condemned Milei’s conduct, with Kicillof stating that the president “does not represent the feeling of the Argentine people” and warning that the provocations put investments, exports and jobs at risk.

The diplomatic crisis, which analysts in both capitals describe as the most severe since the return to democracy in the 1980s, unfolds against a backdrop of deep ideological polarisation. Milei has aligned himself openly with the Bolsonaro family and has never held a bilateral meeting with Lula, while the Brazilian president maintains a cold relationship with his Argentine counterpart. Although the recall of an ambassador is a strong signal of displeasure, Brazilian officials have indicated that more drastic steps, such as the permanent withdrawal of the diplomatic mission, are not under consideration for now. The immediate next step is a meeting between Bitelli and Vieira in Brasília, after which the Brazilian government will assess whether to adopt further measures, while the Argentine ambassador has already been received at the Itamaraty palace to convey the official repudiation.