Three days after the head of the US Embassy in Brazil met with former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), the Biden administration’s diplomatic representation issued a note according to which the recognition of the election results will not come from “negotiation with any candidate or political party”.
Also, in yet another message to Jair Bolsonaro (PL) that he will not condone a coup d’état, the embassy reaffirmed its trust in the country’s electoral justice, which is the target of constant attacks by the president.
“Eventually US recognition will come to the candidate who wins the presidential election as a result of our determination on the integrity of the electoral process led by the Superior Electoral Court, not a negotiation with any candidate or party,” the embassy said on Twitter.
“Our confidence in the Brazilian elections has been clearly reinforced by several high-ranking US government officials and remains unchanged.”
On Wednesday (21), former president and presidential candidate Lula met with US government chargé d’affaires Douglas Koneff, the most senior official of the Joe Biden administration in Brazil today. At the meeting, Koneff defended confidence in the Brazilian electoral process. Before, the American had already met with candidates Ciro Gomes (PDT) and Simone Tebet (MDB).
The Biden administration has sent a series of messages to Brazilian authorities that it does not agree with Bolsonaro’s questions about the integrity of the country’s electoral process.
On September 7, after Bolsonaro continued the coup rhetoric at Independence Bicentennial events, spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre stated that the White House is monitoring the elections and reinforced that Washington trusts Brazil’s democratic institutions.
On the same day, in a note to celebrate 200 years of Independence, Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlighted the importance of commitment to democracy.
In July, after Bolsonaro summoned ambassadors to spread the coup’s thesis about the election, Washington’s representation in Brasília issued a statement in which it said it trusted the Brazilian electoral system, a “model for nations”. Days later, at a conference of defense ministers from the Americas, Secretary Lloyd Austin argued that the military must be “under firm civilian control.”
In the only meeting he has had with Biden so far, Bolsonaro would have asked for help to defeat the favorite in the polls, former president Lula (PT), according to the Bloomberg news agency. At the meeting in Los Angeles, the Brazilian repeated that he wanted “clean, reliable and auditable elections”; the American responded, according to the State Department, that “the US does not tolerate election intervention from anywhere.”
Sectors more to the left of the US Legislature have expressed themselves in a more incisive manner. In a letter delivered by 31 deputies and eight senators earlier this month to President Biden, lawmakers warn of the risk of a coup and accuse Bolsonaro of threatening democratic institutions.
In the text, they called for Brazil to lose support for joining the OECD, the club of rich countries, and the status of a non-NATO ally in the Western military group if Bolsonaro insists on the coup-like acts.
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