Brazil's Lula approved to visit Kirchner

3/7/2025 6:20

An Argentine court

authorized Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to

visit Argentina's former President Cristina Fernandez de

Kirchner, local media reported on Wednesday.



The visit will come weeks after she began serving a

six-year sentence under house arrest for corruption.



Lula is currently in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires,

where he is participating in a two-day summit of leaders from

South American trade bloc Mercosur.



Kirchner, a two-term president from 2007-2015, is among

Argentina's most prominent politicians of recent decades, though

her leftist brand of populism divides opinion and sets her

firmly against current libertarian President Javier Milei.



She was also vice-president under the former government

of President Alberto Fernandez.



In June, Argentina's Supreme Court upheld a 2022

conviction against Kirchner related to a fraud scheme involving

public projects in the southern Patagonia region. The ruling

also included a lifetime ban from holding public political

office.



Some analysts have said she could potentially



exercise influence



from her Buenos Aires apartment, where the judge ordered

that the 72-year-old politician serve out her sentence due to

her age.