It was a confounding scene for Argentines, Brazilians, and Venezuelans alike. On Thursday, August 1, less than four days after the Venezuelan elections, Brazilian diplomats raised their country’s flag above the Argentine embassy in Caracas. Earlier that week, Venezuela’s sitting president, Nicolás Maduro, had given Argentina’s personnel, along with those of seven other nations accusing his government of fraud, a 72-hour deadline to leave the country — a decision that imperiled six Venezuelan opposition figures who had been granted political asylum at the embassy since March.
What happened next was even more surprising. Although he did not mention anybody by name, Argentine President Javier Milei thanked the government of Brazil, citing the two nations’ “long and historic ties.” For Milei, it was an abrupt shift in tone after previously branding Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva “corrupt” and a “communist.
” (Lula, for his part, declined an invitation to the radical libertarian’s inauguration and has said Milei owes him an apology for the “stupid things” he has said.) Whether this latest overture signals a thaw between the two heads of state remains to be seen. Less than a year into his term of office, however, it’s often difficult to discern where Milei’s personal grievances end and his presidency begins.
At first blush, it would appear as though the self-styled anarcho-capitalist were charting a similar course to past liberal pr.