In an escalating diplomatic dispute only months before elections in the biggest country in Latin America, the United States has canceled the visa of Brazil's ambassador, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, according to a State Department official on Tuesday. On the customary condition of anonymity, the official stated that if Brazil approved President Donald Trump's appointment to serve as ambassador to Brasilia, the action would be undone.
In early June, Trump proposed Daniel Perez, a well-known Republican from Florida, to be his next ambassador to Brazil.
He wouldn't be allowed to accept the position until Brazil gave its approval, even if the US Senate still needs to confirm the nominee. “We think the government of Brazil owes us a prompt and positive answer to our request,” the official said.
However, the official added that Viotti, Brazil's envoy, was not being deemed persona non grata and compelled to depart the United States. Brasilia reacted quickly, denouncing the US action as a worsening of the diplomatic impasse.
“Today’s decision is not an isolated incident. It is part of a deliberate escalation of hostile measures against Brazil, motivated by ideological reasons,” the office of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in a statement.
The most recent altercation occurs just months before Brazil's October presidential election, in which right-wing contender Flavio Bolsonaro will oppose leftist President Lula. According to a Brazilian diplomatic source, Brazil recently refused visas for two US officials who wanted to meet with election authorities last month, citing the "risk of political exploitation."
The two diplomats intended to travel to Brasilia to talk with government officials, religious leaders, and others on "election integrity, religious freedom, and freedom of expression," according to a US State Department spokesperson at the time.
Brazil denied the visas in response to Trump's persistent false accusations that widespread fraud prevented him from winning the 2020 election and after Flavio Bolsonaro reiterated baseless allegations that the nation's electronic voting system was unsafe.
Electoral officials prohibited Bolsonaro's father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, from standing for office in 2023 after he made identical accusations the year before while still in office. After losing the 2022 election, he was later found guilty of plotting a coup and is currently under house arrest for 27 years.
