Amid threats from President Jair Bolsonaro against next year’s presidential election, a senior White House official said on Monday (9) that Joe Biden’s administration trusted Brazilian institutions to organize “freely and fairly “and that there was no sign of fraud in past electoral disputes. .
He also stressed that it is important not to undermine confidence in the democratic process.
The statements by Juan Gonzalez, senior director for the Western Hemisphere of the National Security Council, come days after a meeting of US national security adviser Jake Sullivan with Bolsonaro.
The meeting took place at the Planalto Palace, in Brasilia, and Gonzalez was also present.
“We have been very direct, expressing great confidence in the ability of Brazilian institutions to organize free and fair elections, with the necessary guarantees to protect the process against fraud. And we stressed the importance of not undermining confidence. in this process, especially since there is no sign of fraud in previous elections, ”Gonzalez said.
Sullivan met with Bolsonaro on Thursday (5), following a high-profile U.S. visit to Brazil focused on diplomatic pressure against Chinese companies’ participation in the future domestic 5G market. Advisers to Sullivan and Biden also dealt with the environment and defense, and the Americans offered their support to the Bolsonaro government so that Brazil could become a global partner of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). ).
On Friday (6), Folha revealed that Sullivan told Bolsonaro that the Biden administration believes Brazilian institutions can run fair elections with the current voting system.
The Brazilian president is in favor of the printed vote and has promoted a series of coup declarations, which even cast doubt on the holding of elections in 2022.
Bolsonaro’s frequent attacks against the electronic voting system and against the president of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), Luís Roberto Barroso, have opened up a crisis with the Judiciary and raised the temperature of the institutional crisis in the country.
On Monday, commenting on the conversation between the US delegation and a group of reporters, Gonzalez also drew parallels with US policy. In the United States, President Donald Trump is fueling the conspiracy theory that the election Biden won was stolen.
“Our point is that we can have a broad institutional relationship with Brazil. We can address issues of security and economic cooperation while being very clear in terms of supporting Brazilians to be responsible for determining the outcome of their actions. elections. These were the conversations we had [no Brasil]. And we have been very forthright in our views, especially given some of the parallels, of declaring elections invalid before they take place; it’s something that obviously has parallels with what’s going on in the United States, ”Gonzalez said.
Bolsonaro is an ally of Trump and declares himself an admirer of the Republican.
Relations with the Biden administration began to be shaken primarily by speeches by Bolsonaro who endorsed Trump’s accusations of cheating in the US election.
Since the start of the year, Itamaraty has been trying to build bridges with the new administration and prevent the Brazilian leader from being a trumpeter.
However, some allies close to the president have moved in the opposite direction.
MP Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL-SP), son of the Brazilian president, posted photos alongside Trump, whom he met on Tuesday.
He also said he invited Trump to visit Brazil “when [ele] understand convenient “, citing as a possibility a meeting of conservatives organized by the deputy.
“I am on the side of those who do not comply with political correctness, I work in the fight against authoritarian regimes, thus avoiding new wars. I am on the side of men of unblemished reputation and moral authority. walk with your head held high in the streets at all times … which defend family, private property, self-defense by firearms, religious freedom, in short, natural freedoms, “he wrote.
In his defense of the print vote, Bolsonaro has unleashed a series of coup declarations that have called into question the holding of elections next year.
“Without clean and democratic elections, there will be no elections,” Bolsonaro said on August 1.
Speeches against the country’s institutions opened up a crisis with the judiciary and since then institutional tension has intensified.
For this Tuesday (10), the Defense Ministry is expected to promote a military parade with armored vehicles, which lawmakers see as a new attempt at intimidation.