Jun 05 2026| Nº. 208

Editorial

Relations between Brazil and the United States have become one of the central issues of Brazil’s 2026 presidential pre-campaign. If recent weeks pointed to a growing internationalization of the Brazilian electoral dispute, more recent developments suggest something deeper: the bilateral relationship itself has begun to influence domestic political debate directly.

Within the span of just a few days, Washington adopted a series of measures and positions that generated significant repercussions in Brazil. These included the designation of Brazil’s two largest criminal organizations, Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV), as narco-terrorist organizations; new unilateral tariff announcements affecting Brazilian products; critical statements by senior U.S. officials regarding Brazil’s political trajectory; the public release of images from the meeting between Donald Trump and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro; and the nomination of a new ambassador to Brasília closely associated with Republican political circles in Florida. During a recent congressional hearing, Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Brazil as a country that is not friendly to U.S. interests.

Taken individually, each of these initiatives follows its own logic. Taken together, however, they have produced a significant political effect: shifting the focus of Brazil’s public debate toward the state of Brazil–U.S. relations and their potential implications for next year’s presidential election.

Flávio Bolsonaro’s visit to the White House, initially portrayed by his supporters as evidence of international prestige and proximity to Donald Trump, quickly became part of a broader narrative dispute. Government allies began linking the escalation of bilateral tensions to the opposition’s international strategy, while Bolsonaro’s supporters argued for stronger cooperation between the two countries on security and trade. The result has been a rapid politicization of foreign policy issues, a phenomenon relatively uncommon in recent Brazilian electoral history.

President Lula’s response also reflects the intensity of the moment. His public reactions to measures and statements coming from Washington suggest that foreign policy has moved from the margins of domestic politics to the center of political confrontation. Celso Amorim, Special Advisor to the Presidency for International Affairs, described Marco Rubio’s remarks as an “unprecedented rupture.” At the same time, social media platforms amplified competing narratives about responsibility, national sovereignty, and economic interests, transforming diplomatic developments into instruments of electoral mobilization.

Brazil’s presidential campaign has not yet officially begun. Nevertheless, the intensity of recent events suggests that relations between Brasília and Washington may play a more consequential political role in 2026 than in any Brazilian election of the past several decades.

Highlights

• Dark Horse. The São Paulo Civil Police are investigating whether the film Dark Horse, which tells a laudatory story about Jair Bolsonaro, was financed with illegal money from fraudulent contracts related to the provision of Wi-Fi services in São Paulo. Karina Ferreira da Gama, the director of the NGO Instituto Conhecer Brasil, which provides public internet access in the São Paulo capital, is also linked to the film's production company, Go Up Entertainment. The police suspect that part of the funds received in one project were diverted to another. Furthermore, there is suspicion that the film's money was used to pay the living expenses of one of Bolsonaro's sons, Eduardo, who lives in the United States.

• Military Tension. Amidst increasing tensions with the United States, Brazil has made some moves in the area of defense that, given the context, have gained unusual attention. First, Defense Minister José Mucio told business leaders that the country needs to invest in weapons and ammunition, as current stockpiles are insufficient for 30-days war. On another front, Brazil announced it will purchase 20 more Saab Gripen fighter jets, even though the Ministry of Defense lost R$ 4.36 billion from its budget in the cuts announced last week. Friction with the United States tends to motivate the discourse of sectors that call for increased investment in defense.

• Evangelicals. Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro and one of his closest allies, Tarcísio de Freitas, the current governor of São Paulo, who will run for re-election in October, participated this Wednesday, June 4 in a traditional and gigantic evangelical march held every year in the capital of São Paulo. Flávio said that “it was not a political movement, but one of faith.” The evangelical sector, however, has been one of the driving forces behind the growth of the far right in Brazil. In a speech to the faithful, Flávio said that "evil will be expelled" from the government this year.

• Gilmarpalooza. Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes held another edition of a now-traditional event in Lisbon this week, bringing together political and judicial authorities from Brazil, as well as some of the most powerful businessmen in the private sector. The event, ironically nicknamed Gilmarpalooza, attracts criticism for its high costs, which include the payment of per diems to judiciary employees with public money at a time when Brazilian judges are precisely the ones being attacked for ethical reasons.

News from ABO and social organizations and movements:

Parliamentary delegation. A delegation of progressive Brazilian congressional representatives engaged in a series of meetings in Washington D.C. this week, with their U.S. congressional counterparts,, representatives of international organizations, diplomats, research centers, and civil society organizations. The mission took place at a time of international attention focused on the 2026 Brazilian electoral process, intensified debates on disinformation, and important issues on the bilateral agenda, such as the announcement by the United States Department of State designating Comando Vermelho (CV) and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) as Specially Designated Global Terrorists and intending to classify them as Foreign Terrorist Organizations as of June 5th. Read the opinion piece accompanying this edition, visit the Aliança Brasil Office profile on Instagram, or learn more here.

Cerrado. Community leaders, researchers, and decision-makers met in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais from May 21st to 23rd for the meeting “Cerrado in the World: Territories, Rights, and Voices in Global Advocacy,” that focused on the Brazilian savannah. Participants stated that transforming scattered complaints into structured information is a fundamental part of expanding the Cerrado's presence in international human rights mechanisms and strengthening collective advocacy strategies. The expectation is that the meeting will help to broaden the international visibility of complaints that have historically been fragmented or made invisible in global debates on climate, development, and human rights, strengthening direct exchange between communities and international protection mechanisms. Learn more.

Socio-environmental justice. Traditional communities and peoples of African descent from the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes, along with LGBTQI+ populations, began participating this Tuesday, June 2 in training focused on the strategic use of the universal and Inter-American human rights systems and in strengthening capacities for advocacy, protection, and the defense of rights in the face of challenges such as violence, discrimination, environmental racism, and territorial violations. The initiative brings international mechanisms closer to local realities, increases the visibility of the demands of these groups and strengthens networks of articulation in defense of socio-environmental justice, and the ways of life of the people who maintain these territories. With eleven weekly meetings, held on Wednesdays, the course brings together a diversity of participants in a space for learning, exchange and collective construction

Elections 2026. The Instituto República.org will launch its 2026 electoral agenda on June 9th, called “20 proposals for Brazil: what to do for a better public service”. The civil society organization, founded ten years ago, is dedicated to improving employee management in public administration. The event will discuss how this agenda should be a priority for any government committed to the quality of services reaching the population. Register now.

Feature Article

Why a Delegation of Party Leaders
is Going to Washington DC 

By André Janones, Jandira Feghali, Pedro Campos and Pedro Uczai*

This article was originally published in the online version of the Trends and Debates section of the Folha de São Paulo newspaper on June 1, 2026. To read the original, click here.

This year's election in Brazil is already one of the most internationalized in our history. Since launching his candidacy, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro from the Liberal Party has traveled to Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, France, Chile, and, of course, the United States. During the same period, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Part) visited Panama, India, South Korea, Colombia, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and the United States.

Lula's trips abroad have been marked by meetings with heads of state, debates on trade, energy transition, democracy, investment, global governance, and strengthening Brazil's role in multilateral organizations.

In contrast, Flávio Bolsonaro directs his international activities towards political alliances aligned with sectors of global authoritarian conservatism to fuel domestic ideological conflicts. This explains his meeting with US President Donald Trump, where he called for external interventions and interference, delegitimizing the functioning of national institutions, generating risks and uncertainties for the economy, and thus eroding the credibility of Brazil's rule of law abroad, straining our democratic stability.

It is already known that the far right coordinates internationally. In this complex international game, Brazilian congressional representatives from the democratic and progressive camp also have something to say. Therefore, a delegation of party leaders from the government coalition is arriving in Washington to meet with members of the U,S. Congress, diplomats, international organizations, the Inter-American Human Rights System, journalists, academics, and local civil society organizations. In addition to informing and explaining the strengths of our democracy, the delegation will also deliver a clear message against any interference that may exist in the United States in relation to Brazil: there is no room for intrusions in the October election, whether rhetorical, economic, informational, or even military.

Unilateral, non-negotiated measures can weaken the fight against criminals and generate actions that endanger the lives of people who have nothing to do with crime. They can reduce the capacity for information sharing between police forces. They can affect our financial system and national innovations such as Pix, which bother foreign interests.

Brazil is a sovereign country, with a reliable electoral system and a strong and resilient democracy, which only demands three things from its international partners: relations founded on bilateral cooperation and respect for international law, trust in the process and national institutions, and respect for the election results, regardless of who wins. These are the messages we will take together to Washington in this election year.

*André Janones is a federal congressman for the state of Minas Gerais and leader of the Rede Sustentabilidade Party; Jandira Feghali is a federal congresswoman for Rio de Janeiro and leader of the PCdoB party; Pedro Campos is a federal congressman for the PSB party in Pernambuco and deputy leader of the government; and Pedro Uczai is a federal congressman for Santa Catarina and leader of the PT party.

Feature articles express the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or WBO.