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Buenos Aires: Brazil's interim President Michel Temer, who took over on Thursday after Dilma Rousseff was suspended as the country's leader, mistook a journalist from a Buenos Aires radio station for Argentinian President Mauricio Macri.
"How are you, president? ... I want to visit you in Argentina," Temer told the journalist at El Mundo shortly before taking up the presidency. During the brief conversation announcer Jorce Garcia did not introduce himself and never clarified that he was not, in fact, Macri.
Argentina's President Mauricio Macri Photo: AP
Temer presumed it was a congratulatory call from the neighbouring leader.
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Garcia: "Michel Temer, thanks for taking the call. How are you?"
Temer: "Hello, how are you, president? [I'm] Very well.
Brazil's interim President Michel Temer. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Garcia: "[I'm] congratulating you. How are you?"
Garcia also asks "How has your day been?", to which Temer appears to have said "Yes, I'd like to visit you. If [you] invite me, [it'll] be my pleasure."
The brief conversation, which the station said was not a prank but an interview, took place before Temer's address to the nation.
Temer, who was vice president under Rousseff, took over as acting president after the Senate voted to try her for breaking budget laws, meaning she is suspended for up to six-months, the duration of the trial.
Asked about the difficult situation in Brazil and whether he felt calm and confident, Temer said he felt "very calm ... concerned about the situation, but we're going to face it with a lot of enthusiasm."
A Temer media advisor reportedly said they would not comment.
Reuters with Fairfax Media