By Lisandra Paraguassu<\/p>\n
BRASILIA, July 25 (Reuters) – Brazil has denied visa requests for two officials in U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration who planned to travel to the country to cast doubt on the integrity of its electoral system, two Brazilian officials with \u200cknowledge of the matter told Reuters on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, \u200csaid the U.S. plan represented an attempt to shape Brazil’s October presidential election. Leftist incumbent Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva will face right-leaning Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, a Trump ally and \u200bson of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost the last election to Lula.<\/p>\n
Brazil denied the request for visas on Friday to the U.S. delegation, which would have included Assistant Secretary Riley M. Barnes from the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and also Samuel Samson, a deputy assistant secretary, the Brazilian officials said.<\/p>\n
The rejection was based on “evidence pointing to a renewed attempt to politically exploit the situation and undermine the electoral system”, one of the officials \u200csaid.<\/p>\n
Later on Saturday, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said \u2060Barnes and Samson would visit Bras\u00edlia from July 27 to July 30 to meet with government officials, religious leaders and civil society representatives to discuss election integrity, religious freedom and freedom of expression.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson rejected any suggestion of \u2060a “ploy” to undermine Brazil’s elections, calling such claims “baseless” and describing the visit as routine and consistent with the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor statutory mandate.<\/p>\n
Flavio Bolsonaro did not respond on Saturday to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
The U.S. plan was first reported by the Washington Post and then confirmed by Reuters.<\/p>\n
Trump’s administration \u200bhas \u200bbeen trying to influence political contests across Latin America. His recent “complete and total endorsement” \u200bof Colombia’s President-elect Abelardo De La Espriella followed support \u200cfor leaders including Argentine President Javier Milei and Chilean President Jos\u00e9 Antonio Kast.<\/p>\n
NEW ATTEMPT TO DISCREDIT ELECTIONS<\/p>\n
Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain and far-right firebrand, repeatedly sought to undermine confidence in Brazil’s electoral system before the 2022 election, echoing tactics used by Trump in the U.S.<\/p>\n
At the time, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency director, under former President Joe Biden, told the Bolsonaro administration to stop casting doubt on Brazil’s voting system.<\/p>\n
Still, in the months before the 2022 vote, which Lula ultimately won, Bolsonaro had convened foreign diplomats to present unsubstantiated allegations that Brazil’s electronic voting system was vulnerable to \u200cfraud.<\/p>\n
His campaign backfired. Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court, which oversees elections, later ruled that \u200bBolsonaro had abused his position and barred him from seeking public office until 2030.<\/p>\n
Bolsonaro was \u200blater convicted and sentenced to 27 years in prison for \u200bplotting to overturn the election result and remain in power. He is serving the sentence under house arrest.<\/p>\n
Now, Flavio Bolsonaro \u200chas reignited doubts over the country’s electoral system, which \u200bhave been spreading through social media.<\/p>\n
Speaking at \u200ban event attended by dozens of diplomats last week, the senator urged foreign governments to send observers to monitor Brazil’s elections.<\/p>\n
At the same event, the younger Bolsonaro claimed that Brazil’s electronic voting machines were produced by Smartmatic, the company that U.S. authorities have linked \u200bto electoral manipulation allegations in Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Smartmatic and Brazil’s electoral \u200ccourt both told Reuters that no Brazilian voting machines were supplied by the company.<\/p>\n
The senator said at the event and \u200bin a statement that he had not questioned “the integrity of Brazil’s voting system”.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia, Jonathan Landay contributed \u200breporting from Washington, editing by Manuela Andreoni, Gareth Jones and David Gregorio)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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