The chancellor Pablo Quirno assured this Wednesday that the Brazilian Government's decision to reduce the level of diplomatic representation between the two countries was a "unilateral" measure and reaffirmed that the administration of Javier Milei will not respond with a similar escalation to preserve the bilateral relationship.
During an official statement, the official explained that the Brazilian Foreign Ministry summoned the Argentine ambassador in Brazil to inform him that the relationship between the two countries will move to the level of chargé d'affaires and requested the withdrawal of the Argentine diplomatic representative.
"Brazil has every right to decide what it has decided. We understand that there is another way to preserve relations between our countries," Quirno stated.
The Government rejected deepening the diplomatic conflict
The chancellor emphasized that, despite the political and ideological differences that exist between both governments, Argentina has systematically chosen not to transfer them to the diplomatic level.
"Argentina has decided, in the face of each of these episodes, not to take this to a diplomatic distance," he affirmed.
In this regard, he stated that in recent years there have been numerous cross statements between officials of both countries, but assured that the Milei administration never responded in a way that affected the institutional relationship.
As he explained, it was Brazil that decided to turn those political differences into a diplomatic issue.
Quirno recalled previous episodes with Lula's Government
As part of his argument, the chancellor recalled that Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner before last year's presidential elections, a gesture that, he indicated, Argentina could have interpreted as political interference.
However, he highlighted that the Argentine Government decided not to take any diplomatic measures in response.
Quirno also mentioned the situation that occurred with the Argentine diplomatic representation in Venezuela and stated that, even in a context where there were Argentine citizens at risk and political prisoners, the national administration maintained a responsible attitude and avoided deepening conflicts between states.
"It takes two to fight"
The minister made it clear that the official stance will be to keep diplomatic channels open, regardless of the decisions made by the Brazilian Government.
"On our side, there will be no diplomatic action in response to what Brazil does. It takes two to fight. Don't count on Argentina for that," he affirmed.
Finally, Quirno acknowledged that there are profound ideological differences between both administrations, although he insisted that the Government of Javier Milei believes that these discrepancies should not be transferred to the institutional relationship between the two countries.
In this way, the Casa Rosada reaffirmed that it will maintain its foreign policy aimed at preserving the bilateral link with Brazil, even when Lula's government has decided to reduce the level of diplomatic representation between the two nations.
