Days after attacking the Argentine government, President Jair Bolsonaro (no party) met with neighboring country’s ambassador to Brazil Daniel Scioli and said the rivalry only exists in football.
“We support Argentina a lot. You can count on our goodwill. The rivalry only in football,” Bolsonaro said on Tuesday (10). He participated in the celebration of the first year of Scioli as representative of the government of Alberto Fernández in Brazil.
Bolsonaro has quoted Argentina in speeches about the supposed danger of the left’s return to power. On the 2nd, the president declared that Argentina’s elite are leaving the country. “In a short time the middle class will leave and then the poor, like in Venezuela,” he said.
The meeting with Scioli was not on Bolsonaro’s agenda and was publicized by the ambassador on social networks. In a video, the diplomat thanked the Brazilian government for its support in negotiations such as those with the IMF (International Monetary Fund).
In the same recording, the Brazilian president speaks of “doing everything to overcome crises”. “What matters most today: congratulations, congratulations and our congratulations to the Argentine government,” Bolsonaro told Scioli.
Last week, the president quoted Argentina in speeches marked by anti-Communist rhetoric. “Bad choice, populist, demagogic. Sell the illusion. Promising paradise. Sharing wealth and income. Does anyone know socialist entrepreneurs? Communist entrepreneurs?” He said of ruled countries from the left.
On the last day 2, Bolsonaro also said the press was “running out” in Argentina. “In 2019, I was there. I talked about what would happen if the São Paulo Forum group again commanded the country. There was no other way,” he said. he declares.
The president even criticized, on the same day, Fernández’s economic policy. “They want to increase the tax burden, fix the prices, like Argentina did for meat. Not only was there a shortage in the market, but the price has increased,” he said.
Bolsonaro and Fernandéz even avoided dialogue during the first weeks of Argentina’s administration, in 2019. The Peronist was elected to head Brazil’s largest trading partner in Latin America.
At the time, the Brazilian leader was campaigning for Mauricio Macri, the president who was running for re-election. After the elections, Bolsonaro said he would not congratulate Fernández and criticized the “return of Kirchnerism” in the neighboring country, which he identified as Argentina’s turn “towards Venezuela”.
In addition, Bolsonaro did not attend Fernández’s inauguration in Buenos Aires and sent Vice President Hamilton Mourão as the representative of Brazil.
The appointment of Scioli, a former presidential candidate and former governor of Buenos Aires, was seen at the time as a sign that the Argentine government considers maintaining friendly relations with Brazil a priority, despite the ideological differences between the two presidents.