President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) stated this Friday (13) that the advisor to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, on matters related to Brazil, Darren Beattie, will only be able to enter the country when the North American government releases the visa of the Minister of Health, Alexandre Padilha.
Lula said he decided to prevent Beattie from entering Brazil in reciprocity to the blocking of Padilha’s and his family’s visas by US authorities last year. Shortly afterwards, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) confirmed the revocation of Beattie’s visa (see below).
“That American guy who said he was coming here to visit Jair Bolsonaro, he was banned from visiting and I banned him from coming to Brazil, until he releases the visas of the Minister of Health, who is blocked,” declared Lula at an event in Rio de Janeiro (see excerpt).
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Lula amended it by stating that blocking Padilha’s visa would not only have affected him, but also family members.
“You know that they blocked Padilha’s visa, his wife’s visa and his 10-year-old daughter’s visa, you know? So, Padilha, rest assured that you are being protected,” he added.
In a note to People’s GazetteItamaraty confirmed the revocation of Beattie’s visa due to a lack of information about the trip he would take to Brazil, initially to participate in an event on rare earths.
“Itamaraty confirms the revocation of the visa, taking into account the omission and falsification of relevant information regarding the reason for the visit when applying for the visa, in Washington. This is a sufficient legal principle for visa denial, in accordance with national and international legislation”, he confirmed.
“Interference in internal affairs”
Beattie would travel to Brazil next week to participate in the Brazil-US Critical Minerals Forum, one of the points that the Brazilian government has been discussing with the North American government amid negotiations for Lula’s visit to Trump by the end of this month.
The American president’s advisor would take advantage of the trip to meet former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who is imprisoned in the 19th Military Police Battalion of the Federal District. The minister even authorized the visit, but revoked it this Thursday (12) after notes made by Minister Mauro Vieira, of Foreign Affairs.
“It is not included in the diplomatic context that authorized the granting of the visa and its entry into Brazilian territory, in addition to not having been previously communicated to the Brazilian diplomatic authorities, which could even lead to the reanalysis of the granted visa”, Moraes wrote in the decision.
Vieira further alleged that “the visit of a foreign State official to a former President of the Republic in an election year could constitute undue interference in the internal affairs of the Brazilian State.”
The minister also pointed out that Beattie’s justification presented to the government for requesting the visa only pointed to participation in the event, without any mention of the visit to Bolsonaro.
“There was no mention of the visitor’s possible interest in holding meetings or visits not related to the officially communicated objectives”, he added.
