Brazil's Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira has called on Argentina to immediately cease what he described as repeated 'aggressions' against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, warning that normal bilateral relations cannot resume until the attacks stop. The crisis was triggered when Argentine President Javier Milei, speaking at a Brazilian opposition party event in late July, called Lula a 'thief' and labelled Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes — a key figure in blocking a military coup attempt — 'a bald piece of trash,' insults Milei subsequently repeated in media interviews. Brazil has responded by downgrading diplomatic ties, expelling Argentina's ambassador and recalling its own envoy from Buenos Aires, marking what analysts are calling the worst rupture between the two nations — major trade partners and founding members of the Mercosur trade bloc — in decades.