The announcement comes after the president of Argentina described his Brazilian counterpart as a "leftie" with an "inflated ego" and refused to apologize for statements in which the Argentine president accused Lula of being "communist" and "corrupt." .
Argentine President Javier Milei will not go to the Mercosur summit on July 8 in Asunción, where he was going to meet his Brazilian counterpart and ideological nemesis Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, while he is considering meeting with former president Jair Bolsonaro over the weekend said his spokesperson this Monday, July 1.
"The president, due to agenda issues, is not going to go to the Mercosur summit as planned," said presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni at a press conference, after having announced days before that he would attend.
Foreign Minister Diana Mondino will represent the Argentine leader at the semi-annual meeting of presidents of the commercial bloc made up of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Adorni's announcement came after Milei on Friday described Lula as a "lefty" with an "inflamed ego" and refused to apologize as Lula had requested for statements made before assuming the presidency in December, in which Argentine president accused Lula of being a "wild lefty", "communist" and "corrupt".
LULA: ARGENTINA IS "VERY IMPORTANT FOR BRAZIL AND BRAZIL VERY IMPORTANT FOR ARGENTINA"
In response to press speculation that Milei was thus avoiding a face-to-face meeting with Lula in Paraguay, Adorni responded that the president "would never stop having an activity because of his own words."
Milei will travel to Brazil on Saturday to return on Sunday (one day before the summit in Paraguay) to an event that Adorni did not specify and in which "it is not confirmed whether or not he will meet with Bolsonaro."
Lula declared last week that Argentina "is a very important country for Brazil and Brazil is very important for Argentina" and that "it is not a president of the republic who is going to create discord between Brazil and Argentina."
The Southern Common Market (Mercosur) was created in 1991 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Venezuela, whose membership was approved in 2006 but has been suspended since 2017 due to "breakdown of the democratic order", and Bolivia, whose Parliament has yet to approve the accession protocol, are also full members.
