Argentine President Javier Milei is receiving his MERCOSUR counterparts on Thursday at San Martin Palace for the regional bloc’s summit, although without holding a bilateral meeting, and will transfer the pro tempore presidency to Brazil.
However, the most striking event of the day, attracting public and media attention, is the visit of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday evening to former President Cristina Fernandez at her apartment in Buenos Aires neighborhood of Constitucion, where she is under house arrest.
He is the first head of State to meet with the former president, which is seen as a highly symbolic political gesture that shows a shared history and leaves President Milei out of the spotlight in the middle of the MERCOSUR summit, Noticias Argentinas news agency reported.
That media outlet, like others, informs that this summit in Buenos Aires is not exempt from tension for the libertarian government, not only due to Lula’s visit to Cristina, but also the conflictive relationship generated by Milei with the leader of Argentina’s main trading partner.
In addition to Lula, Presidents Yamandu Orsi (Uruguay) and Santiago Peña (Paraguay) are confirmed. Yet to be confirmed, their counterparts from Chile, Gabriel Boric, Bolivia, Luis Arce, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen could also attend the summit.
The MERCOSUR Summit opened on Wednesday at the Argentine Foreign Ministry headquarters with a meeting of economy ministers and central bank governors from the member States, chaired by host minister Luis Caputo, and closed with a meeting among foreign ministers, led by local Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein.
It was officially announced that MERCOSUR and the European EFTA group, a trade bloc formed by Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, concluded negotiations with an agreement to establish a Free Trade Treaty covering a trade area of 300 million people and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 4.3 trillion dollars. (https://www.plenglish.com/news/2025/07/03/mercosur-presidents-hold-summit-in-buenos-aires/)
