Lula sends a message to Argentines even though he recognizes that he cannot give an opinion

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) sent a message to Argentines five days before the presidential election that could change the direction of the relationship between the two countries in the future. The “hermanos” go to the polls on Sunday (19) to decide, in a second round, who will govern the country for the next four years – the dispute is between the government candidate, Sergio Massa, who is a friend of Lula, and the libertarian economist Javier Milei.

Lula said that he has a friendly relationship with Argentina and that the country “needs to have a president who respects democracy, institutions and Mercosur”. Despite the message, he himself acknowledged that he cannot give his opinion on the election in the neighboring country.

“I cannot talk about elections in Argentina, because it is a sovereign right of the Argentine people. But I wanted to ask you to remember that Brazil needs Argentina and that Argentina needs Brazil”, said Lula this Tuesday (14) during the weekly live “Conversa com o Presidente”.

The request to Argentines was given amid one of Milei’s promises if elected, that he will take the country out of Mercosur and start negotiating directly with other countries. More recently, he also stated that he does not intend to talk to Lula.

Lula highlighted during the live that he had a close relationship with some of the last Argentine presidents, such as the couple Néstor and Cristina Kirchner, and that he remembers the relationship that former president José Sarney had with his counterpart Raúl Alfonsin, in the 1980s.

He also reported on the commercial relationship between Brazil and Argentina during his first two terms, going from US$7 billion to US$39 billion at the end of 2010.

“We need to be together without divergence. When we have a disagreement, we sit down at a table, negotiate and put an end to the disagreement. That’s how I’ve lived with Argentina until now”, he said, highlighting that both countries are South America’s biggest trading partners.

The president also reported that negotiations carried out as a group of countries are more advantageous than individual negotiations, and that the world “is divided into blocks”. “We need to create our block to trade commercially with the rest of the world. We can make an agreement between South America and China, with the European Union, with the United States”, explained Lula.

“Together we will be strong, apart we will be weak. That’s what I wanted you to think about when you vote,” she added.