US envoys who were due to visit Brazil to evaluate the fairness of the country’s electoral system will be blocked from entering the country.
The Washington Post reports, “The U.S. State Department delegation, which is expected to depart for Brasília, the capital, in coming days, will include Trump political appointees Riley M. Barnes, an assistant secretary, and Samuel Samson, a deputy assistant secretary, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy…
“Two senior Brazilian diplomats told The Washington Post on Thursday that they had recently learned of what they described as the American ‘ploy’ and have vowed to block the U.S. officials from entering the country.”
One official told The Post the government would “protect our voting system.”
The officials said they believe the goal of the delegation is to produce a report that would cast doubts about the integrity of the nation’s electronic voting system, ahead of the presidential elections in October.
President Trump has clashed multiple times with Brazil’s socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva over curbs on freedom of expression and the treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is being held under house arrest after being convicted of an attempted coup. Bolsonaro claimed the 2022 election was stolen from him by Lula.
This week, President Trump placed significant tariffs on a range of Brazilian goods.
President Lula said the move was intended to aid his opponent, Jair Bolsonaro’s son, Flavio, who currently trails him in the polls.
This isn’t the first time US officials have been blocked from visiting Brazil by the current government. State Department official Darren Beattie tried to visit Bolsonaro after his conviction, but his visa was revoked.
Bolsonaro began his 27 year, 3 month sentence under house arrest, but was moved into prison after he was alleged to have tampered with his ankle monitor.
While in prison, he has faced severe complications as a result of a stabbing that took place in 2018, during the election campaign. He has suffered pneumonia and other serious infections, and has been in and out of critical care.
In March, he was allowed 90 days of “humanitarian house arrest” because of his health.
Supporters of the former president have claimed his treatment is inhumane and a violation of his human rights.
His son Flavio has described his father’s treatment as “playing with my father’s life” and “psychological torture.”
2 Responses
Who cares about Brazil… we have election integrity issues at home. Fix them first and still leave the rest of the countries alone. Whoops, I forgot… it is not who the CIA/Deep State wants in power in these other countries.
The US should not interfere in other people’s elections. Just like you don’t want them interfering in ours.