President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) is expected to meet on Thursday (3) with former Argentine president Cristina Kirchner, convicted of corruption and currently under house arrest.
The meeting takes place in parallel to Mercosur’s 66th summit of Mercosur state in Buenos Aires, but does not include bilateral agenda with current Argentine president Javier Milei, evidence of diplomatic distance between the two leaders.
At the request of the former president and should take place in the afternoon, after the official end of the summit. The visit was preceded by a telephone conversation between the two in June, after Argentina’s supreme court rejecting Cristina’s defense appeal. At the time, Lula published a message on social networks praising the “serene and determined way” in which the ally faced the process.
Kirchner went to favor businessman Lázaro Báez in public contracts between 2003 and 2015, during her and Nestor Kirchner governments. The scheme would have caused a loss of about $ 1 billion to the Argentine state. Cristina denies the accusations and states that the sentence was “political.”
MERCOSUR SCY
The absence of direct dialogue between Lula and Milei draws attention because it occurs during the main regional integration forum of South America. Argentina delivers to Brazil the rotary presidency of the bloc, which will be commanded by Lula for the next six months.
Despite the tense political climate, the event occurs the day after the announcement of a free trade agreement between Mercosur and EFTA (European Free Trade Association) – a group that brings together Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The treaty, according to Itamaraty, should create a free trade zone with almost 300 million people and GDP over $ 4.3 trillion.
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The Brazilian government expects to formalize the signing of the agreement in 2025. In parallel, Lula tries to advance the ratification of the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, closed in 2019, but waged by resistance, especially France.
President Emmanuel Macron claims that environmental standards charged from Europeans are more demanding than those required on the South American side. Lula has charged that the European country has a counterproposal.
Conflict between Lula and Milei
Since the inauguration of Javier Milei in December 2023, diplomatic relations between Brazil and Argentina have been marked by exchanges of public barbs and the absence of bilateral gestures. During the Argentine presidential campaign, Milei made direct attacks on Lula and the PT. In power, the libertarian maintained the removal: visiting Brazil in 2024, met only with Jair Bolsonaro (PL), ignoring the current Brazilian president.
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Lula’s choice for meeting Cristina Kirchner – a central figure of Milei’s Kirchnerism and political antithesis – reinforces the ideological contrast between the two governments and signals a political solidarity movement that can reverberate at the regional scene.
