Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes barred a US State Department official from visiting Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing former president who is serving a 27-year prison sentence in the country’s capital.
Darren Beattie, a Trump administration official, had sought to meet Bolsonaro during a trip to Brazil for a critical minerals summit in Sao Paulo next Wednesday. But after initially approving the request, Moraes determined that it fell outside of the diplomatic context that authorized the issuance of Beattie’s visa to visit Brazil, according to a Thursday evening ruling.
Moraes’ initial authorization came at the request of Bolsonaro, who was convicted in September of plotting a coup attempt following his 2022 election loss to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The judge said that visit could only occur on the same day as the Sao Paulo event.
In response to a request from Moraes, Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira then said that Beattie’s visa application cited participation in the event and meetings with representatives of the Brazilian government. Beattie, however, only sought meetings with government officials after requesting the visit with Bolsonaro, Vieira said
“It should be noted that a visit by a foreign state official to a former president in an election year may constitute undue interference in the internal affairs of the Brazilian state,” the foreign minister said in a filing submitted to the court.
Moraes in response blocked the visit, saying in his order that failure to communicate his intentions to diplomatic authorities “could even warrant a review of the visa” that was granted.
The Trump administration last year placed sanctions on Moraes as part of an unsuccessful push to stop Bolsonaro’s trial. It later lifted the sanctions, along with heightened tariffs on many key Brazilian exports, after Trump and Lula began mending ties between the nations.
Posted by John3262005
2 Comments
Well, Bolsonaro was not allowed a visit due to “falling outside of the diplomatic context that authorized Beattie’s visa” and “constituting undue interference in the internal affairs of the Brazilian state, and said that failure to communicate intentions to diplomatic authorities could warrant a review of Beattie’s visa.”
I wonder what will happen next.
It is the same judge after all.
Will it be Sanctions, an investigation, a talking to on Truth social, or something else. I guess we will see
The Nelson Mandela of the American right, folks