Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has confirmed that his government denied visas to two U.S. officials who planned to travel to Brazil, accusing them of attempting to interfere in the country’s October presidential election.
“We had to deny visas to two young people who were being sent to Brazil to interfere in Brazil’s elections,” Lula said on Wednesday.
The two U.S. State Department officials had been scheduled to visit Brazil in late July for what Washington described as a mission focused on freedom of expression, religious freedom, and electoral integrity. During the trip, they were also expected to meet with right-wing presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro.
The U.S. State Department has rejected the allegations, describing claims that the officials sought to undermine Brazil’s elections as “baseless falsehoods.”
Brazil’s upcoming presidential election is expected to pit the 80-year-old left-wing incumbent Lula against Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Jair Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence after being convicted of plotting a coup following his defeat in the previous presidential election. Even before his conviction, he had been barred from seeking public office after repeatedly making unsubstantiated claims that Brazil’s electronic voting system could be manipulated during both the 2018 and 2022 elections.
Bolsonaro also publicly questioned the integrity of Brazil’s electoral system before an audience of foreign diplomats. Following Lula’s victory in 2022, Bolsonaro supporters stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court, and Presidential Palace on January 8, 2023, in an attack widely compared to the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
The latest diplomatic dispute adds to growing tensions between Brasília and Washington as Brazil prepares for a closely watched presidential election later this year.
