Bolsonaro MP called Argentina “eternal beggar”

From Brazil, they attacked Argentina again. Only this time it wasn’t the president Jair Bolsonaro but his vice, Hamilton Mourao. And he did not refer to the government of Alberto Fernandez but in the chronic critical state of its southern neighbor with regard to the economy: “Eternal BeggarHe guessed it.

Mourão’s words were heard during a virtual meeting with investors organized by the financial company XP. The vice-president, of military origin like the first president and almost as controversial as himself, defended the need to maintain a balance in the accounts of the state. And he found in Argentina a perfect comparison.

“We cannot escape the rules of fiscal responsibility, otherwise the country will go bankrupt. And if the country goes bankrupt, we will be like our neighbor to the south, like Argentina, an eternal beggar, ”described the retired general. His sentence unleashed a few smiles among viewers.

Mourão participated in the trade event under the government to address the Brazilian economic scenario. He highlighted the growth in public debt over the past 12 years. And he indicated that it was the seventh consecutive year of budget deficit.

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Beyond the fact that his criticisms transcend the specific environment in which he expressed them, the curious thing is that the vice-president of Bolsonaro has served, from the start of Fernández’s administration, as a bridge of contact with the Argentina when Bolsonaro only insulted him. In fact, he was her envoy for the change of command in December 2019.

As a member of the military wing, Mourão often embodies a more ingrained look at the economic nationalism than the blind openness proclaimed by its neoliberal partners in power. Despite this, the Brazilian president seems to rely more today on the traditional parties of the so-called Centrão than on his comrades in arms.

The armed forces still retain nearly a third of the ministries and, above all, those which manage national public investment. But the management was beheaded with the latest government engineering, after the displacement of the Minister of Defense, critical of the management of the pandemic. – and the military were dismissed from their role as interlocutors before Congress, in fact entrusting this task to a man from the Centrão.

The name change to Defense, as Argentina seeks political support to move forward in negotiations with Iveco to increase its participation in the production of the amphibian “Guaraní”, represented a pause in conversations due to the departure of his interlocutors. Despite this, the ambassador Daniel Scioli has already started the process to finalize the first bilateral with the new manager, also general and who knows: Walter Souza Braga Netto.

In recent days, a series of articles by Folha and O’Globo have highlighted the ties between the United States and Argentina, based on the conversation between the two foreign officials, Felipe Solá and Antony Blinken, and the visit to the country of the head of the Southern Command, Craig faller. They compared him to the Bolsonaro administration who “barely exchanged letters with Biden.”