Updates

“For Brazilian Sovereignty and Solidarity with its People”

Delegates of the 2026 Panamerican Congress at the Mercosur Parliament in Montevideo, Uruguay.

We, the undersigned parliamentarians and members of the Panamerican Congress, address the peoples and parliaments of the Americas ahead of the second round of Brazil’s presidential election, to be held on 25 October.

We raise our voices against the growing foreign interference and the unlawful use of coercive measures that threaten the sovereign right of the Brazilian people to determine their own future freely. Many of us have confronted these same practices in our own countries: intimidation, blackmail and coercion intended to distort the popular will, influence democratic processes and subordinate the sovereign decisions of our peoples to foreign interests. We know that these threats are not isolated incidents. They are manifestations of an explicit policy of intervention linked to a renewed interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine—one that seeks to reassert United States primacy in the hemisphere and influence the political, economic and strategic direction of our nations. Decisions that belong solely to the people at the ballot box are being subjected to pressure from abroad.

In July 2025, the Trump administration imposed tariffs of up to 50 per cent on Brazilian products, citing, among other grounds, the judicial proceedings against Jair Bolsonaro. In February 2026, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the law invoked by the administration did not authorise the President to impose those measures. The Trump administration subsequently pursued a different legal route and, in July 2026, introduced a new 25 per cent tariff, citing Brazil’s Pix payment system and its regulation of digital platforms among its stated grounds.

Article 20 of the Charter of the Organization of American States prohibits any state from using coercive measures of an economic character to force the sovereign will of another state. The burden of these unilateral measures falls directly upon Brazilian workers, producers and families who have no part in the underlying political dispute. In practice, they amount to a form of collective punishment against the people of Brazil.

Major digital platforms based in the United States have themselves become actors in the electoral campaign. On 23 September, ten days before the first round, Meta disabled the advertising account of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s campaign without specifying which rule had allegedly been breached. The organisation CTRL+Z documented more than 1,100 cases involving the suspension, restriction or reduced reach of accounts and profiles supportive of Lula’s candidacy across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta attributed these incidents to “technical failures” and denied any intention to favour a candidate or political actor. Nevertheless, the matter is deeply concerning: a small number of foreign corporations exercise enormous power over what can circulate within Brazil’s public debate, while the United States government uses tariffs as an instrument of pressure against Brazil’s efforts to regulate those same companies.

In July 2025, the Trump administration imposed sanctions and revoked the visas of Brazilian judges and senior officials in response to the judicial proceedings against Jair Bolsonaro. In July 2026, Brazil denied entry to two senior officials from the United States Department of State who, according to reports in the US press, intended to meet critics of Brazil’s electoral system and prepare a report on the country’s electronic voting machines—the same system that Bolsonaro’s political movement sought to discredit in 2022. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded by revoking the diplomatic visa of Brazil’s ambassador to Washington. On 2 October, two days before the first round, the United States closed its embassy and consulates in Brazil on stated security grounds and reopened them the day after the vote.

Behind these actions lies a political relationship that has been built and cultivated over many years. In 2024, Eduardo Bolsonaro followed the counting of the United States presidential election alongside Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. In May 2026, Trump received Flávio Bolsonaro in Washington in a meeting that did not appear on the President’s official schedule. Only weeks later, Washington imposed a new tariff on Brazilian goods.

The growing interest in shaping Brazil’s political future is not accidental. Brazil occupies a central position in the global geopolitical contest. Its extraordinary wealth of strategic natural resources—including significant reserves of rare earth elements and other critical minerals, vast freshwater resources, energy reserves and exceptional biodiversity—combined with its industrial capacity and its economic and political influence, makes Brazil a decisive actor in Latin America’s future and in the emergence of a new international order. Eduardo Bolsonaro himself declared in August 2025 that, if necessary, they were prepared to “sacrifice everything and burn the entire forest.”

These efforts also seek to defeat a project of social justice that, over the past four years, has served sectors of the population historically excluded from national life and begun rebuilding a social fabric severely damaged by the 2016 parliamentary coup and its consequences. Under President Lula, more than 40 million people overcame food insecurity, and Brazil once again succeeded in leaving the United Nations Hunger Map.

What is happening in Brazil today has already been experienced elsewhere in our region. In Argentina, Washington offered a financial rescue package while warning that it would cease to be “generous” if the governing coalition lost the election. In Honduras, Trump threatened to reassess United States assistance if his preferred candidate did not prevail and, in the midst of the campaign, pardoned former president Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been convicted of drug-trafficking offences. In Colombia, he tied the future of bilateral relations to the victory of the candidate he supported.

In light of these developments, we, the undersigned, call upon parliamentarians, political parties, trade unions and social movements throughout our hemisphere and across the world to speak out in defence of Brazil’s sovereignty and the inalienable right of its people to determine their future freely. We call on all democratic forces to remain vigilant, to expose and condemn any attempt at external interference before, during or after 25 October, and to demand full and unconditional respect for the will of the Brazilian people as expressed at the ballot box. Tomorrow may be too late.

Brazil is not the backyard of any foreign power. Brazil’s future belongs to its people—and to no one else.

1. 🇨🇴 Alejandro Ocampo Giraldo, Vice President of the Senate, Colombia

2. 🇪🇨 Ana Herrera Gómez, Assembly Member, Ecuador

3. 🇧🇷 Ana Pimentel, Federal Deputy, Brazil

4. 🇪🇨 Andrés Arauz, Former Coordinating Minister of Knowledge and Human Talent, Ecuador

5. 🇭🇳 Angelica Smith, Deputy, Honduras

6. 🇦🇷 Ariel Navarro, Red Futuro, Argentina

7. 🇪🇨 Arisdely Parrales, Assembly Member, Ecuador

8. 🇲🇽 Beatriz Silvia Robles Gutiérrez, Senator, Mexico

9. 🇪🇨 Bertha Vélez, Assembly Member, Ecuador

10. 🇺🇾 Bettiana Díaz Rey, Senator, Uruguay

11. 🇨🇱 Camila Vallejo, Former Government Spokesperson Minister and former Deputy, Chile

12. 🇲🇽 Carolina Rangel Gracida, Secretary General of Morena, Mexico

13. 🇦🇷 Cecilia Nicolini, Deputy to the Parlasur, Argentina

14. 🇺🇸 Chris Rabb, Democratic Nominee for U.S. House of Representatives (PA-03), United States

15. 🇨🇴 Clara López Obregón, Former Senator and former Minister of Labor, Colombia

16. 🇺🇾 Constanza Moreira, Senator, Uruguay

17. 🇨🇱 Constanza Schönhaut Soto, Deputy, Chile

18. 🇦🇷 Deanes Alejandro Martín, Member of the Mercosur Parliament, Argentina

19. 🇨🇦 Don Davies, Member of Parliament, Canada

20. 🇪🇨 Eliana Correa, Assembly Member, Ecuador

21. 🇨🇴 Ernesto Samper Pizano, Former President, Colombia

22. 🇵🇾 Esperanza Martínez, Senator, Paraguay

23. 🇺🇾 Federico Preve Cocco, Deputy, Uruguay

24. 🇪🇨 Fernando Cedeño Rivadeneira, Assembly Member, Ecuador

25. 🇪🇨 Franklin Samaniego, Assembly Member, Ecuador

26. 🇦🇷 Gabriel Fuks, Member of the Mercosur Parliament, Argentina

27. 🇪🇸 Gerardo Pisarello, Deputy, Spain

28. 🇪🇨 Germania Romero, Assembly Member, Ecuador

29. 🇨🇱 Giorgio Jackson, Former Deputy and former Minister Secretary General of the Presidency and of Social Development, Chile

30. 🇨🇱 Gonzalo Winter, Deputy, Chile

31. 🇲🇽 Guillermo Santiago, Deputy, Mexico

32. 🇪🇨 Gustavo Mateus Acosta, Assembly Member, Ecuador

33. 🇪🇨 Héctor Valladarez, Assembly Member, Ecuador

34. 🇭🇳 Hugo Noé Pino, Deputy, Honduras

35. 🇺🇸 Hugo Soto-Martinez, Los Angeles City Councilmember, United States

36. 🇪🇨 Humberto Alvarado Espinel, Assembly Member, Ecuador

37. 🇺🇾 Inés Cortés, Deputy, Uruguay

38. 🇦🇷 Itai Hagman, National Deputy, Argentina

39. 🇪🇨 Jahiren Elizabeth Noriega Donoso, Assembly Member, Ecuador

40. 🇨🇱 Jeannette Jara, Former Minister of Labor and former presidential candidate, Chile

41. 🇨🇦 Jennifer Hassum, Executive Director of the Broadbent Institute, Canada

42. 🇨🇦 Jenny Kwan, Member of Parliament, Canada

43. 🇺🇾 Joaquín Garlo, Deputy, Uruguay

44. 🇪🇨 José Vallejo, Assembly Member, Ecuador

45. 🇦🇷 Josué Gagliardi, Member of the Parlasur, Argentina

46. 🇪🇨 Juan Pablo Molina Saldaña, Assembly Member, Ecuador

47. 🇨🇱 Juan Santana Castillo, Deputy, Chile

48. 🇨🇱 Karol Cariola Oliva, Senator, Chile

49. 🇦🇷 Karolina Bobadilla, Member of the Parlasur, Argentina

50. 🇧🇷 Larissa Ramina, Professor of International Law at UFPR, Brazil

51. 🇨🇦 Leah Gazan, Member of Parliament, Canada

52. 🇪🇨 Lenin Daniel Barreto Zambrano, Assembly Member, Ecuador

53. 🇪🇨 Liliana Durán Aguilar, Assembly Member, Ecuador

54. 🇧🇷 Luciene Cavalcante da Silva, Federal Deputy, Brazil

55. 🇭🇳 Lucy Michell Guerrero Paz, Deputy, Honduras

56. 🇵🇷 María de Lourdes Santiago, Senator, Puerto Rico

57. 🇨🇴 María Fernanda Carrascal Rojas, Member of the House of Representatives, Colombia

58. 🇪🇨 María Gabriela Molina Menéndez, Assembly Member, Ecuador

59. 🇨🇴 María José Pizarro, Former Senator, Colombia

60. 🇲🇽 María Magdalena Rosales Cruz, Deputy, Mexico

61. 🇦🇷 Mariana Urbano, Member of the Mercosur Parliament, Argentina

62. 🇪🇨 Mariana Yumbay Yallico, Assembly Member, Ecuador

63. 🇦🇷 Mariano Fernández, Member of the Mercosur Parliament, Argentina

64. 🇨🇱 Marta González, Former Deputy, Chile

65. 🇪🇨 Melissa Zambrano, Assembly Member, Ecuador

66. 🇪🇨 Mireya Pazmiño Arregui, Assembly Member, Ecuador

67. 🇪🇨 Mónica Alemán, Assembly Member, Ecuador

68. 🇪🇨 Nanki Saant, Assembly Member, Ecuador

69. 🇧🇷 Orlando Silva, Federal Deputy, Brazil

70. 🇪🇨 Paola Cabezas Castillo, Assembly Member, Ecuador

71. 🇭🇳 Rafael Sarmiento, Deputy, Honduras

72. 🇦🇷 Raúl Bittel, Member of the Mercosur Parliament, Argentina

73. 🇪🇨 Ricardo Patiño Aroca, Assembly Member, Ecuador

74. 🇨🇱 Rodrigo Ignacio Astorga Hering, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Chile

75. 🇪🇨 Roque Martín Ordóñez, Assembly Member, Ecuador

76. 🇪🇨 Sandra Figueroa Aguilar, Assembly Member, Ecuador

77. 🇨🇦 Savhanna Wilson, Chief of Staff of the NDP, Canada

78. 🇺🇾 Sebastián Sabini, Senator, Uruguay

79. 🇭🇳 Sergio Arturo Castellanos, Deputy, Honduras

80. 🇪🇨 Silvia Patricia Núñez Ramos, Assembly Member, Ecuador

81. 🇨🇱 Tatiana Urrutia, Deputy, Chile

82. 🇪🇨 Verónica Íñiguez Gallardo, Assembly Member, Ecuador

83. 🇪🇨 Victoria Desintonio Malavé, Assembly Member, Ecuador

84. 🇨🇱 Vlado Mirosevic, Senator, Chile