Argentina’s president butts heads with South American leftist leaders

Milei called Brazil’s president corrupt and accused the Bolivian president of staging a fake coup attempt. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

On the campaign trail, Argentina’s showman president, Javier Milei, brandished a chainsaw to highlight plans for ferocious spending cuts. In office, the rightwinger has apparently decided to take the power tool to foreign relations as well.

In recent days, Milei has busied himself losing friends and alienating people with a series of verbal attacks on the leftwing leaders of Argentina’s two biggest neighbours, Bolivia and Brazil.