Brazil revokes visa of Trump adviser who asked to meet jailed Bolsonaro | Political news

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Darren Beatty was banned from visiting Bolsonaro in prison.

The Brazilian government has revoked the visa of Darren Beatty, a right-wing adviser to United States President Donald Trump, who had planned to meet former President Jair Bolsonaro at the Zaire cell in Brasilia.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva confirmed Friday that Beatty’s visa had been revoked. He equated it to the pulling of US visas by Brazilian officials in Washington, DC.

Among them was Brazilian Health Minister Alexandre Padilha, whose US visa was revoked last year.

“That American man who said he was coming here to meet Jair Bolsonaro was banned from visiting and I banned my health minister from coming to Brazil until he releases his visa,” Lula said at an event in Rio de Janeiro.

Separately, Brazilian officials told news services, including AFP, that Beatty had lied about the purpose of the visit on his visa request.

Bolsonaro is a right-wing ally of President Trump and is currently serving a 27-year sentence for his role in a coup plot after Brazil’s 2022 election.

Friday’s decision shows continued tensions between the Brazilian and US governments, with Trump and Lula enjoying a warming relationship.

Last August, Trump placed Brazil under heavy tariffs — the highest in the world — in protest against Bolsonaro’s prosecution. He demanded that the country’s legal system drop the case against Bolsonaro and accused Brazil of persecuting far-right voices.

After Trump met Lula at the United Nations General Assembly in September and at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in October, relations between the two leaders improved.

Lula was reached by telephone in October in an effort to ease the cumulative 50 percent tariffs on some Brazilian products. On November 20, Trump responded by issuing an executive order “modifying the scope of tariffs” on Brazilian exports such as beef and coffee.

But speculation is rife that Trump could once again meddle in the country’s internal politics to bolster the future of Brazilian power.

Brazil is set to hold new presidential elections in October, with Lula Bolsonaro facing off against her eldest son, Flavio.

Lawyers for the imprisoned Bolsonaro had asked Brazil’s Supreme Court this week to approve Beatty’s visitation request, but the court rejected that request on Thursday.

Beatty, a strong critic of Lula’s government, was fired after reports that he attended a white nationalist conference during Trump’s first term in office.

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro was placed in intensive care on Friday, with hospital officials saying the 70-year-old had “high fever, drop in oxygen saturation, sweating and chills” linked to pneumonia.