Former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who is serving a six-year sentence for fraud under house arrest, on Tuesday requested permission to host Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for a visit, a judge told the AFP news agency.
Lula will be in Argentina on Thursday for a summit of the regional Mercosur bloc, which will also be attended by President Javier Milei.
The already tense ties between the Brazilian left-wing stalwart and Milei, an ardent admirer of US President Donald Trump who has described Lula as a "corrupt" and a "Communist," could be further strained if Lula meets with Milei's arch-nemesis, Fernández de Kirchner.
Judge Jorge Gorini, president of the court that convicted Fernández de Kirchner of "fraudulent administration" while president between 2007 and 2015, confirmed to AFP that the ex-president had requested to host Lula at her apartment in Buenos Aires. He said the court has yet to respond.
Fernández de Kirchner began serving her sentence last month after losing her Supreme Court appeal against her conviction. The 72-year-old has also been barred from holding public office for life.
Her conviction prompted an outpouring of emotion from her backers, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets to show their support for her.
Fernández de Kirchner claims her trial was an attempt to silence her criticism of the right.
Under the conditions of her house arrest, she must seek permission to receive visits from people other than her family members, as well as doctors and lawyers.
Lula's visit to Argentina will be his first since Milei came to power in December 2023. The pair have no plans for bilateral talks.
A lawmaker from Lula's Workers' Party (PT) told Argentine radio recently that Lula wanted to "visit his friend Cristina to personally convey his affection and solidarity."
But a senior Brazilian Foreign Ministry official, Gisela Padovan, told AFP that she had "no information" about such a visit and stressed that Lula's visit to Argentina would be "very brief."
Mercosur is made up of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay.
– TIMES/AFP
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