WorldPosted at: Sep 25 2026 10:10PM


Brazilian President Lula da Silva accuses Trump of seeking to 'colonise' Brazil through blatant meddling in national elections

Brasilia, Sep 25 (UNI) Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's campaign has accused US President Donald Trump of seeking to "colonise" Brazil and gain control of its natural resources by meddling in the country's presidential election.
The accusation was made in a one-minute television advert released on Thursday, as Lula seeks re-election against Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in the October 4 first round. The campaign cited reports of US political activity in Brazil, alleged involvement by American technology companies and a confidential assessment by Brazil's intelligence agency warning that the risk of US interference had reached a "critical level".
"Flavio Bolsonaro is Trump's candidate," the advert says. "And what Trump wants is to colonise Brazil, to take our wealth, steal our future and leave us behind."
Trump has been a vocal advocate of Flavio's father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing legal proceedings over an alleged attempt to overturn his 2022 election defeat.
Lula repeated the accusation on X, saying Bolsonaro wanted to "hand our natural resources over to the United States". "If it's up to him, Brazil will become a colony again," he wrote.
The campaign advert referred to a report from Brazil's intelligence agency, Abin, which was sent to the presidency, the Supreme Electoral Court and the Justice Ministry. According to Brazilian media reports, the document warned of an escalating US pressure campaign and classified the risk of foreign influence or interference in the election as "critical".
The allegations extend to claims of US-linked financial and political activity around Bolsonaro's campaign. Lula's campaign has pointed to Rockbridge Network, a US conservative donor network co-founded by Vice President JD Vance and investor Chris Buskirk.
Brazilian reports have also linked businessman Pedro Sang, described as a Rockbridge organiser in Brazil, to Bolsonaro's campaign headquarters in Sao Paulo. Lula's Workers' Party has asked Brazil's Supreme Court to investigate possible foreign financing, which is prohibited under Brazilian election law. Sang has denied that Rockbridge funded political campaigns in Brazil.
Separately, Brazil's Supreme Electoral Court has opened an investigation into a network of Instagram accounts accused of using coordinated "collab" posts to promote Bolsonaro and other candidates. The court has ordered Meta to preserve and provide information about the accounts involved.
The Lula campaign has also accused Meta of interfering in the election after the company temporarily disabled the Facebook advertising account used by the president's re-election campaign. The campaign said the action was taken without an explanation and sought its restoration. Meta had not publicly detailed the reason for the restriction.
The episode followed a study by the organisation Eko which found that Meta approved 13 of 15 test political advertisements submitted from a US-based account and aimed at Brazilian voters. The adverts included an AI-generated video depicting Trump urging Brazilians to vote for Bolsonaro. The researchers did not publish the advertisements, while Meta said the experiment did not reflect the scale of its efforts to protect Brazil's election.
Washington has also increased economic and diplomatic pressure on Brasília. The US Trade Representative in July imposed a 25% tariff on certain Brazilian goods after a Section 301 investigation cited concerns including digital trade, electronic payment services and other Brazilian policies affecting US commerce.
The Trump administration also revoked the visa of Brazil's ambassador to Washington in August. The State Department described the move as reciprocal, citing Brazil's failure to approve Trump's nominee for ambassador to Brasília.
Lula has portrayed the pressure as a threat to Brazilian sovereignty. Speaking at the UN General Assembly this week, he warned against domestic or foreign interference in the election and said "We will not allow the enemies of democracy – internal or external – to attack the will of the people. Brazilian democracy belongs to the Brazilians."
The concerns are not confined to Lula's campaign alone, as presidential candidate Renan Santos has also accused Trump of seeking to turn Brazil into a "vassal state", while saying the country should not become subordinate to either the US or China, linking the issue to Brazil's rare-earth resources.
The Trump administration has rejected suggestions that Washington is running a scheme to undermine Brazil's election. The State Department said last month that "any insinuation of a 'ploy' to undermine a democratic nation's election is a baseless lie."
The October 4 election is taking place amid a closely contested campaign between Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro, with a second round scheduled for October 25 if no candidate secures more than half of the vote.
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