Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva revoked the visa of U.S. diplomat Darren Beattie on Friday, reciprocating for last year’s visa revocations of Brazilian officials by the United States. The move came a day after Beattie was denied permission to visit former President Jair Bolsonaro in prison.
“That American fellow who said he had come here to visit Jair Bolsonaro was forbidden to do so,” Lula said, adding that Beattie would be blocked from Brazil until the visas for Brazil’s health minister and his family are reinstated. The decision directly ties the diplomatic action to a move by former Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revoke visas of Brazilian officials said to have links to a Cuban program that sends doctors overseas.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes denied Beattie’s request, citing concerns about undue interference. Moraes, who sentenced Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for leading a coup attempt in 2023, stated in his ruling that Beattie had requested a visa to attend the Brazil–US Critical Minerals Forum in São Paulo. The ruling cited the Brazilian Foreign Ministry’s view that Beattie’s planned prison visit “in an electoral year might be undue interference in internal affairs of the Brazilian state.” The ministry also advised that Beattie had not made any formal request to visit Bolsonaro.
A Brazilian government official, speaking anonymously, told The Associated Press that Beattie’s visa was revoked because of “the omission of information and lies about the purpose of the visit upon his visa request.”
The diplomatic row occurs as Lula campaigns for reelection later this year. Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, one of the former president’s sons, is expected to be Lula’s main opponent in his bid for a fourth term, adding a domestic political dimension to the international dispute.
U.S. President Donald Trump has been a supporter of Bolsonaro, calling the case against him politically motivated and previously imposing tariffs on Brazil. Trump has since loosened those tariffs, including in November as part of an effort to lower consumer costs for Americans. Lula has suggested he wants to meet Trump in Washington to discuss tariffs, security cooperation, and other topics, though no date has been set.
Neither the White House nor the U.S. embassy in Brasilia made comments on Lula’s decision or the Brazilian Supreme Court ruling. Beattie, a former speechwriter and political strategist who became an under secretary for public diplomacy under the Trump administration, has been a critic of both Lula and de Moraes.