Brazil refused Friday to issue visas to two American officials who wanted to meet electoral authorities less than three months before the presidential election, a Brazilian diplomatic source told AFP.
The source invoked a “risk of political exploitation”. This refusal is a new episode of tensions between the governments of Donald Trump and his left-wing Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Lula will seek re-election in October against Flavio Bolsonaro, ally of the American president Brazil refused on Friday to issue visas to two American officials who wanted to meet the electoral authorities less than three months before the presidential election, a Brazilian diplomatic source told AFP on Saturday, citing a “risk of political exploitation”.
This refusal is a new episode of tensions between the governments of Donald Trump and his left-wing Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Lula will seek re-election in October against Flavio Bolsonaro, an ally of the American president and nominated on Saturday as the candidate of the main Brazilian conservative party, the Liberal Party.
The United States had requested visas on July 20 for the two officials, who were to go on a mission to discuss “election-related freedom of expression” issues with the authorities in charge of the poll, according to the Brazilian source.
But what “caught the attention” of Brazilian authorities was that the visas were requested almost at the same time as a private meeting on Tuesday between Flavio Bolsonaro and foreign diplomats, during which the right-wing candidate questioned the reliability of Brazil’s electronic voting system.
He did so with arguments similar to those which, in 2023, led to the ineligibility of his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), also convicted in 2025 for attempted coup d’état.
The Brazilian consulate therefore refused to grant visas to American officials, the Brazilian source explained to AFP.
Asked by AFP, the American authorities did not react immediately.
The Trump government imposed two waves of customs duties on Brazilian products in July, in the name of Brazil’s alleged unfair trade practices.
Lula accuses Flavio Bolsonaro of being a “traitor to the homeland” who would have encouraged American surcharges, which he denies.
An ally of Jair Bolsonaro during his presidency, Donald Trump supported right-wing candidates in recent elections in other Latin American countries such as Argentina and Colombia.
