Members of the party led by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva demanded the judiciary investigate the expenses and the nature of his Argentine counterpart Javier Milei’s trip to São Paulo over the weekend, on the grounds that there are “indications of undue foreign interference” in Brazil’s presidential elections scheduled for October 4.
The left-wing Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT, or Workers’ Party in English), currently led by Lula, formally requested Monday that the Attorney General’s Office investigate who paid for Milei’s trip, during which he met with far-right presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro to express his support.
On Saturday, Milei attended Brazil’s Liberal Party convention, during which Bolsonaro’s candidacy was officially launched. During the event, Milei insulted President Da Silva while giving a speech, calling him a “thief” and a “totalitarian” and saying that Bolsonaro is the only one who can save Brazil from “socialism.”
The Brazilian Foreign Ministry has since recalled its ambassador in Buenos Aires for consultations, and Minister Mauro Vieira met with Argentine Ambassador to Brazil Daniel Raimondi to express the government’s rejection of Milei’s comments and demand explanations.
Since the incident, Milei has continued to share posts mocking or insulting Lula. In turn, Da Silva decided to ignore the Argentine president’s comments. On Monday, when asked by journalists about Milei’s statement, Lula replied, “Who is that guy?”
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Foreign influence
The PT asked the Attorney General’s Office to look into whether party funds from the Liberal Party and the São Paulo government were used to cover lodging, security, and local transportation for Milei during his visit, given that the Argentine president also met with Governor Tarcísio de Freitas and São Paulo City Mayor Ricardo Nunes.
The Brazilian ruling party said that a potential use of government resources to accommodate Milei during a political visit could undermine the normalcy, legitimacy, and equality of opportunity in the 2026 presidential race.
“This series of actions casts the symbolic and political weight of foreign authority over the Brazilian electoral contest, while at the same time straining institutions essential to the functioning of the democratic rule of law, such as the Federal Supreme Court and the head of the national executive branch itself,” the PT said.
Political coalition Brasil da Esperança (Brazil of Hope), formed by the PT and other ally parties, also filed a formal complaint on Monday with Electoral Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet, requesting an investigation of the circumstances of Milei’s trip.
The complaint seeks to determine how the visit was funded, including whether resources from the São Paulo state, São Paulo city, the Brazilian Liberal Party or the Argentine state were used, and whether those expenses complied with Brazilian electoral and political party laws.
They argued that Milei’s activities in São Paulo constitute a form of institutional interference in Brazil’s electoral process, as his participation in the Liberal Party’s convention took place during an official visit to the country and directly benefited a specific candidate, local newspaper O Globo reported.
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Potential misuse of public resources
The complaint also targets Liberal Party President Valdemar Costa Neto, Flávio Bolsonaro, and São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas. The coalition said that there may have been an overlap between the official state agenda and party affairs, given Milei held a bilateral meeting with De Freitas before attending the political event.
In addition, the complaint stated that Milei went beyond a political statement by delivering a speech in defense of Flávio Bolsonaro, including an explicit call for Brazilians to vote for the far-right candidate, given Milei said Bolsonaro was the only one who could “stop Lula.”
The document stressed that there is no public information regarding who covered airfare, lodging, transportation, security, logistics, and other expenses related to the Argentine president’s participation in the convention.
In Argentina, two lawyers have also filed a judicial complaint against Milei for alleged misuse of public funds and violating his duties as a public official, saying that the president used Argentina’s public resources to take part in activities related to the neighboring country’s Liberal Party.
The complaint, filed by José Magioncalda and Juan Martín Fazio, states that Milei used “the presidential aircraft, the official delegation, and public treasury funds” to attend a party event in the Federative Republic of Brazil in support of Flávio Bolsonaro’s candidacy, which constituted a diversion of public resources from their intended purpose.
“State resources were diverted to satisfy the interests of a political faction, while also causing severe damage to bilateral diplomatic relations,” the lawyers said in the document.
