A post on X escalates the feud
Argentina's president, Javier Milei, renewed his attacks on Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Saturday, describing him as a thief and a liar one day before the Brazilian runoff against Flávio Bolsonaro. Milei posted the phrase on X while sharing a message that recounted the Brazilian president's criticism during Friday night's second and final debate. In that exchange, Lula said poverty in Argentina had reached 40 percent and that the country's people were eating donkey meat.[S1][S2][S3]
Milei went further, arguing that Lula's negative campaign team, which he said exists to manufacture falsehoods about opponents, ought to advise him against relying on invented data meant to smear rivals. According to the Argentine president, doing so would only demonstrate that Lula lies and that he is the source of the fabrication. The post built on a message from Antonio Aracre, a former adviser to Alberto Fernández who now firmly backs the government, which included a breakdown showing Argentina leading the world in beef consumption.[S1][S3]
Beef figures and a donkey-meat dispute
The chart Aracre shared, and which Milei redistributed, credits the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations with figures showing Argentines consuming 46.9 kilograms of beef per person each year, against 35.4 kilograms in Brazil. The economist also listed numbers for Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile. The donkey-meat reference traces back to a controversy that surfaced in April, when a butcher in Chubut launched a cut of that animal as an alternative to beef in the Trelew area, offering it at 7,500 pesos per kilogram.[S2][S3]
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During the debate, held at Globo studios, Lula sought to link Bolsonaro negatively to Milei, asking whether his rival also intended to bring the chainsaw to cut spending and wages. Bolsonaro replied that the left had governed Argentina for 20 years and ruined the country. In the economic segment, Lula pressed Bolsonaro over libertarians making the central bank independent, and Bolsonaro countered that the Workers' Party had done the same as Cristina Kirchner in Argentina, printing money and generating inflation.[S1]
A diplomatic relationship already downgraded
Brazil's foreign ministry responded to Milei through a statement accusing him of repeating falsehoods spread by those who lost elections and carried out a failed military coup four years earlier. It also described his conduct as external interference in Brazil's democratic process. The dispute is not new: in August, for the first time in history, Brazil had no ambassador in Buenos Aires, having reduced relations to the level of chargé d'affaires after Milei, during a visit to Brazil, called the Brazilian leader a thief and corrupt.[S1]
Earlier in the week, Milei had raised the prospect of electoral fraud by Lula in the runoff, saying he hoped the last trick would not involve stealing the election. He also called the Brazilian president misogynistic over remarks about women, in which Lula defended a shorter working week by saying a woman cannot work six days and rest one because she has to clean the house that day. Lula faces Bolsonaro on Sunday, and in the first round on October 4 the Liberal Party candidate took 47.03 percent against 45.16 percent for the incumbent, who is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term.[S2][S3]
