By Camilo Diniz
Brazil's Foreign Ministry, known as Itamaraty, under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's government, summoned the head of Argentina's embassy in Brasília, chargé d'affaires María Emilia Cortés, on Thursday, Oct. 29. The goal was to ask for clarification about a supposed role by the government of Argentine President Javier Milei in the departure from Brazil of Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Party (PL). Sources in the Brazilian government confirmed the meeting. Argentina's version is different: Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno said Brazil never asked for explanations.
Two versions of the same meeting
Cortés was received by Ambassador João Marcelo Galvão de Queiroz, who heads Itamaraty's South America Department. According to Brazilian government sources who spoke to Reuters, the conversation was brief. Officially, the Foreign Ministry did not comment on the meeting.
In other words, Brazil confirms through sources that it demanded answers, while Argentina says no one demanded anything. For now, only one thing is public: the Brazilian government has not owned the move in its own name.
The trip that set off the controversy
Flávio Bolsonaro left Brazil on the night of Tuesday, Oct. 27, with his wife and two daughters. According to Argentina's National Migration Directorate, the family entered the neighboring country at 10:50 p.m. over the Tancredo Neves International Bridge, which links Foz do Iguaçu, in the Brazilian state of Paraná, to Puerto Iguazú.
About 40 minutes later, the group boarded a private flight. The plane stopped in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and continued to Miami, where it landed on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 28.
In a letter released after the trip, the senator thanked Argentine President Javier Milei for his help. He did not say, however, what role the Argentine government played in the journey. That is the gap Itamaraty says it wants to fill.
Why it matters: diplomacy without ambassadors
Flávio Bolsonaro is a senator and a son of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's president from 2019 to 2022. The summons comes as relations between Lula and Milei are already downgraded, after a series of offensive statements by the Argentine president against the Brazilian leader.
Brazil withdrew its ambassador in Buenos Aires, Júlio Bitelli. Argentina's representative in Brasília, Daniel Raimondi, also went home. Since then, both embassies have been run by chargés d'affaires.
It is in this setting, with no ambassadors and a badly damaged bilateral relationship, that Lula's government has decided to demand explanations from a neighbor and major trading partner. What happens next depends on two things: whether Itamaraty will officially acknowledge what sources confirm behind the scenes, and whether Buenos Aires will comment on the case again.
VDD Analysis
Summoning diplomats is any government's right. But the conflicting accounts, with anonymous sources on one side and a denial on the other, expose an Itamaraty that demands answers without owning the demand. With embassies emptied after the clash with Milei, Lula's foreign policy seems more focused on widening the rift than on rebuilding bridges with Argentina.
Based on reporting by Bacci Política.
