Aide to Argentina’s Milei meets Brazil minister, invites Lula to inauguration

Diana Mondino, Argentina’s top foreign policy adviser, posted on X that she was in Brasilia to meet Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira

Mondino is widely expected to be named by President-elect Javier Milei as Argentina’s incoming foreign minister

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Diana Mondino, Argentina’s top foreign policy adviser. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 2:21am, 27 Nov 2023

Argentine President-elect Javier Milei’s top foreign policy adviser had a meeting with Brazil’s foreign relations minister on Sunday, in another sign the radical libertarian might keep softening his tone with many he had harshly criticised before.

Diana Mondino posted on social media platform X that she was in Brasilia to meet President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, sharing a picture alongside him.

Later, Brazil’s foreign relations ministry confirmed her visit and said Mondino, who is widely expected to be named by Milei as Argentina’s incoming foreign minister, was there to invite Lula to the president-elect’s inauguration on December 10.

“They also discussed aspects of the bilateral relationship and the current stage of Mercosur-EU negotiations,” the ministry said in a statement.

During his campaign, far-right Milei suggested he would balk at doing business with Brazil, his country’s top trade partner, dubbing the leftist Lula an “angry communist” and “socialist with a totalitarian vocation”.

Mondino’s meeting with Vieira comes as Milei last week also softened his tone with China’s communist leadership, thanking President Xi Jinping for a letter congratulating him. China is Argentina’s second-largest trade partner.