Argentina’s presidential candidate, Javier Miley, said he would not meet Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) if he wins the race for Casa Rosada. In one interview, he described the Labor Party member as a “communist”.
In a conversation published on Wednesday (8), Miley told journalist Jaime Bailey that Lula is “corrupt.” He added: “That is why he was arrested.”
Miley, an ally of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), will face Peronist Sergio Massa in the second round of the dispute in Argentina. The elections will be held on the 19th of this month.
The liberal had already called Lula a communist shortly after the invitation for Argentina to join BRICS – a bloc that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and which recently gained membership from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Argentina. Egypt, Iran and Ethiopia. He responded then that he would not accept entry if elected, and would not meet with communists from Brazil and China.
Miley says he does not want to sever diplomatic or trade relations with Brazil, but believes that the country should not be the regulator of this flow. Its policy is to allow Brazilian and Argentine businessmen and producers to manage relations.
He told Billy: “From my position as head of state, my allies are the United States, Israel and the free world.”
On Sunday (6), in an interview with La Nacion newspaper LN+, Miley accused Lula of interfering in the Argentine presidential election campaign.
He said, “The people (supporters) of Bolsonaro and some journalists in Brazil denounced Lula’s interference in the campaign and the financing of part of it, and within this package there is a group of Brazilian advisors who are the best experts in negative campaigns.”
The ambassador responds
Argentina’s ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Cioli, rejected Miley’s statements.
“The fact that one of the candidates says that he will not establish relations with Lula does not seem to me to be of any benefit, unlike Sergio Massa, who is practicing the best commercial diplomacy, which could be deepened from December onwards, because I know the relations that he has, not only with Brazil, But with China, and the other bilateral relationship that Miley questioned, they are the two most important partners for Argentina.”
On August 29, Argentine newspapers published reports of the conversation that had taken place the previous day between Lula and Massa, also the country’s Minister of Economy, at the Planalto Palace. Peronist candidate to succeed the president, Alberto Fernandez, Massa had been in Brasilia, the day before, to discuss a US$600 million loan.
The goal was to finance Argentine exports. Lula told the minister that he would send people from his team to Argentina, with the aim of helping him in the “Stop the Right” campaign, according to what was published in Argentine newspapers.
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