Brazil seeks investigation into alleged US election interference funding

Brazil is seeking to investigate allegations of US government funding for activities aimed at interfering in its elections and undermining the legitimacy of its Supreme Federal Court, public news agency Agencia Brasil reported Thursday.

Earlier this week, The Guardian cited a source familiar with the matter as saying that the White House planned to allocate $1 million for a project titled “Countering Lawfare and Censorship in Brazil.” The funds were expected to support NGOs opposing what the project described as judicial overreach and censorship by Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court.

The funding was reportedly part of a broader plan to redirect more than $175 million from the State Department’s Human Rights and Democracy Fund to finance 43 projects abroad, including in South Africa, Nigeria and several European states.

Brazil’s Attorney General’s Office (AGU) asked the Federal Police (PF) and the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR) to investigate the issue, Agencia Brasil noted.

If confirmed, the use of foreign funds to organize “coordinated and systematic attacks” on Brazil’s sovereignty and judicial institutions could amount to foreign interference in the country’s internal affairs, AGU said, as cited by the news agency. The office also said the funds in question had allegedly been diverted from international programs originally intended to protect human rights.

The investigation comes ahead of Brazil’s presidential election, with the first round set for October 4. Polls show a close race between left-wing incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. A second vote is scheduled for October 25.

Last week, Lula’s election campaign warned that US President Donald Trump wanted to “colonize” the South American country and gain control of its natural resources by interfering in the upcoming vote.

US social media giant Meta, meanwhile, blocked the advertising account used by Lula’s campaign on Facebook, preventing it from running new ads just days before the first round. The campaign said the tech giant provided no explanation for the step, and demanded that access be restored, threatening legal action and describing the restriction as another example of alleged Big Tech interference in the vote.

Tensions between the US and Latin America’s largest economy have been soaring for months, as Trump fiercely backed right-wing former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during his trial over a plot to overturn his 2022 election defeat and keep himself in power.

The two countries are also locked in a dispute over commerce. The US imposed an additional 25% tariff on certain Brazilian goods in July after a trade investigation accused Brazil of a litany of unreasonable practices. Washington also revoked the Brazilian ambassador’s visa in August as tensions escalated during the election campaign.

On Thursday, Washington suspended consular services at its diplomatic missions in Brazil, citing unspecified security concerns.