The Brazilian president participates in a meeting of the bloc in Buenos Aires, where he seeks to advance trade agreements.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is scheduled 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 the 66th Summit of Heads of State of Mercosur, in Buenos Aires, but does not include a bilateral agenda with the current Argentine president, Javier Milei, highlighting the diplomatic distancing between the two leaders.
The meeting between Lula and Kirchner was authorized by the Argentine judiciary at the request of the former president and is expected to take place in the afternoon, after the official conclusion of the summit. The visit was preceded by a phone conversation between the two in June, after the Argentine Supreme Court rejected a defense appeal from Cristina. At the time, Lula posted a message on social media praising the 'calm and determined way' in which his ally faced the process.
Kirchner was convicted of leading a criminal organization and promoting fraudulent administration by favoring businessman Lázaro Báez in public contracts between 2003 and 2015, during her and Néstor Kirchner's governments. The scheme is said to have caused a loss of about $1 billion to the Argentine state. Cristina denies the allegations and claims that the sentence was 'political.'
Mercosur Summit
The absence of direct dialogue between Lula and Milei stands out as it occurs during the main forum for regional integration in South America. Argentina hands over the rotating presidency of the bloc to Brazil, which will be led by Lula for the next six months.
Despite the tense political climate, the event occurs a day after the announcement of a free trade agreement between Mercosur and EFTA (European Free Trade Association) — a group that includes Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. The treaty, according to Itamaraty, is expected to create a free trade area with nearly 300 million people and a GDP exceeding $4.3 trillion.
The Brazilian government expects to formalize the signing of the agreement by 2025. In parallel, Lula is trying to advance the ratification of the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, finalized in 2019, but stalled by resistance, mainly from France.
President Emmanuel Macron claims that the environmental standards required of Europeans are more stringent than those required from the South American side. Lula has demanded that the European country present a counterproposal.
Conflict between Lula and Milei
Since Javier Milei's inauguration in December 2023, diplomatic relations between Brazil and Argentina have been marked by public exchanges of barbs and a lack of bilateral gestures. During the Argentine presidential campaign, Milei made direct attacks on Lula and the PT. Once in power, the libertarian maintained the distance: during a visit to Brazil in 2024, he only met with Jair Bolsonaro (PL), ignoring the current Brazilian president.
Lula's choice to meet with Cristina Kirchner — a central figure of Kirchnerism and political antithesis of Milei — reinforces the ideological contrast between the two governments and signals a movement of political solidarity that may resonate in the regional scene.