The Trump administration suspended all U.S. consular services in Brazil on Friday in what one political economist feared was a ploy to “interfere in the country’s democratic elections this weekend.”
The State Department told Reuters that the suspension of all consular services across the South American nation was due to “security concerns,” but did not provide additional details, including what those concerns were or when consular services would be restored.
“Consular Services in the US Embassy and Consulates in Brazil will be suspended starting Friday, October 2 due to security concerns," the State Department said in a statement, according to Reuters. "US citizens seeking emergency assistance during this time should not come to the Embassy, the Consulates, or other US diplomatic facilities."
The timing of the move was suspect, argued David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International and former advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Brazil’s first-round presidential election is on Sunday, pitting Flávio Bolsonaro — a far-right politician supported by President Donald Trump — against incumbent Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a progressive Workers' Party member and frequent Trump critic.
“Holy s---. In an UNPRECEDENTED move, the United States suspends ALL embassy services in all American consulates in Brazil… with no justification whatsoever,” Adler wrote in a social media post on X. “Yet another fear-stoking effort to interfere in the country’s democratic elections this weekend.”
Brazilian political commentator Julio Freiress — whose commentary was cited by the Brazilian Supreme Court earlier this year — expressed similar concerns.
“Trump has already started interfering in the Brazilian election,” Freiress wrote, according to an automatic translation by X’s Grok chatbot from its original Portuguese. “There's no reason whatsoever for the United States to suspend embassy services. There's already a whiff of interference in the air.”