Berliner Tageblatt - Brazil hits new diplomatic lows with US and Argentina

"We cannot accept interference," leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in an interview Wednesday, a day after the United States announced it had revoked the visa of Brazil's ambassador.

The Trump administration's decision was "irresponsible and ill-advised," Lula told the Meteoro Brasil news outlet.

Relations between Brasilia and Washington have blown hot and cold for months as Lula and his ideological opposite, Donald Trump, have clashed over tariffs, free speech and Brazil's judiciary.

Meanwhile, Brazil this week recalled its ambassador and downgraded diplomatic ties with Buenos Aires after repeated insults from Argentina's firebrand libertarian president Javier Milei, who said Lula was "a thief" and "corrupt."

"This decision remains in effect as long as Javier Milei's attacks on Brazilian democratic institutions persist," a source at Brazil's foreign ministry said Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

Both Trump and Milei are allies of Brazil's far-right Bolsonaro family.

Former president Jair Bolsonaro, 71, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for plotting a coup when he lost his 2022 re-election bid.

In his place, his eldest son Flavio is running for the presidency in October elections.

- Brazil demands 'respect' -

Lula, 80, has made national sovereignty a key theme of his campaign for a fourth term in office.

"Brazil is not only prepared but will also confront anyone from the outside who seeks to interfere in our electoral process," he said Wednesday.

Washington said it revoked the visa of Brazil's ambassador because Brasilia had not yet approved its appointment of Daniel Perez, a prominent Florida Republican, as its ambassador to Brazil.

Lula said that with elections looming, he was not receiving new ambassadors from any country, and blamed Washington for lagging in appointing someone.

"The United States doesn't attach importance to the embassy in Brazil. Trump has been in office for a year and a half, yet he hasn't sent an ambassador here. So, they try to send one and think we are obligated to accommodate them on the date they want?" he said.

"That isn't right, nor is it feasible. We want to be treated with respect."

Lula also said Brazil was right to deny visas to two US officials last month, who Washington said were coming to discuss "election integrity" among other things.

Brazil's denial of the visas came after Flavio Bolsonaro renewed debunked claims made by his father that the country's electronic voting system was insecure.

Lula said they were coming to "meddle in, monitor, and investigate Brazil's voting machines."

"I doubt their country has an electoral system more honest than ours," he said.

The latest spat with the US comes just weeks after steep new tariffs came into effect, with Washington accusing the Latin American giant of unfair trade practices.

- Milei's 'attacks' -

Tensions with Argentina increased after Milei attended an event launching Flavio Bolsonaro's presidential bid in July, and launched veiled insults at Lula and a Supreme Court justice.

Milei doubled down in an interview broadcast Sunday on Argentine television.

Lula is "a thief, he's corrupt, he's been convicted of theft and corruption, he's been in prison, so it's true that we can call him a convict," Milei said.

Lula, who was previously president from 2003-2010, spent 580 days in jail beginning in April 2018 after being convicted in the sprawling Operation Car Wash anti-corruption probe.

He was freed after his conviction was overturned on procedural grounds, with the presiding judge also later ruled to have been biased.

Lula returned to the presidency in 2023.

J.Bergmann--BTB