U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Democrat Robert Menendez asked National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to stress during a conversation with President Jair Bolsonaro the importance of holding the presidential elections in Brazil in 2022, “in accordance with the rules in force”.
He also alerted the American to threats Bolsonaro made against the Brazilian electoral system. Sullivan met Bolsonaro on his trip to the country, which ended Thursday (5).
During the visit, according to Folha, Sullivan offered the government of Jair Bolsonaro the support of Brazil to become a global partner of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), in further pressure against participation Chinese companies to Brazilian 5G.
The move, a day after Bolsonaro again questioned electronic voting machines and called into question the holding of presidential elections in Brazil next year, came as a surprise to some members of the US Congress.
In a letter sent to Sullivan on August 4, on the eve of the trip, Menendez said that President “Bolsonaro is spreading false accounts in an attempt to undermine the confidence of Brazilians in the electoral system”, despite the system, according to the text. , be considered one of the safest in the world, and the Superior Electoral Court and Federal Supreme Court have found no evidence of fraud.
Menendez tells Sullivan that Bolsonaro said the current electronic voting system allows “widespread fraud” and “threatens to overturn the 2022 election unless a controversial electoral law reform is passed.” echoed these statements, in the letter obtained by Folha.
“Sadly, we are well aware of the danger that arises when a president baselessly questions electoral and institutional integrity,” he said, pointing to the fact that former President Donald Trump has spread the false narrative that the American presidential elections, in 2020, had had. been rigged.
This Trump-led disinformation campaign resulted in the President’s supporters invading Capitol Hill, encouraged by him, and left five people dead. Polls to date show more than half of Republican voters believe the election was stolen, although trumpeters have lost more than 50 lawsuits involving the results.
“Brazil cannot afford to see its people lose faith in institutions at this critical time,” Menendez said. “During your conversation with President Bolsonaro and Minister Braga Netto, I urge you to stress the importance of holding presidential elections in 2022, in accordance with the rules in force.”
The senator is a well-respected moderate in Washington and, as the head of the Committee on Foreign Relations, he has great influence on American foreign policy.
The letter also highlights great concern about Bolsonaro’s environmental policy and the Brazilian government’s response to the pandemic.
“Today, democracy is much less stable in Latin America than it was four years ago, but for now, Brazilian institutions are resisting,” he says. “Now is the time to redouble support for these institutions to be able to face the unprecedented challenges that lie ahead.”