US Representatives Ask for Investigation into Military Participation in Brazilian Presidential Election

An amendment to the U.S. defense budget aims to end military aid to Brazil if armed forces interfere in the presidential election.

U.S. representatives argue that U.S. military aid to Brazil should end if Brazilian armed forces interfere in the presidential election.

The proposal appears in an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for the Fiscal Year 2023, dubbed “Neutrality of Brazilian Armed Forces During Presidential Elections.” The text is under debate in Congress and still needs to be approved.

The amendment calls for the U.S. secretary of state to deliver a report on the interference of the Brazilian Armed Forces in the October 2022 presidential election, and to consider such actions as statutory protections in U.S. security assistance.

The amendment lists five points about the Brazilian armed forces’ actions to consider:

(1) Whether they interfere with, stop or obstruct ballot counting or electoral operations by independent electoral authorities;

(2) manipulate, seek to manipulate or overturn results of the election;

(3) engage in coordinated information or communications efforts to undermine popular faith and trust in independent electoral authorities or question the validity of electoral results;

(4) use social media or other mass communication systems, including mobile messaging applications, to attempt to influence widespread opinions on the validity of electoral results or with regard to the desirability of any particular outcome; or

(5) encourage, incite or facilitate physical riot activities or contestations with regard to electoral processes, electoral counts or electoral results, both before and after the presidential election.

As revealed by the BrasilWire site, a group of Democratic lawmakers who support President Joe Biden proposed the amendment as part of discussions on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.

The United States maintains military cooperation programs, including exercises and training, with countries such as Brazil. Since 2019, Brazil has become a non-NATO ally, a status that makes it easier for the Brazilian government to acquire military equipment and technology.

At the initiative of President Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian armed forces began to question the electoral process. In August 2021, Justice Luís Roberto Barroso, then president of Brazil’s electoral court (Tribunal Superior Eleitoral), invited the military to participate in the Commission for the Transparency of Elections, which brings together the Brazilian Congress, the Federal Police and other entities.

The military raised 88 questions about the voting system and suggested changes. However, almost all of them were rejected by the TSE, some for technical reasons.

Preliminary Vice Presidential Candidate Supports Auditing

Last week, Gen. Walter Braga Netto, Bolsonaro’s preliminary candidate for vice president, reportedly told business authorities that there will be no election if the electoral process is not subject to an audit, as suggested by the Brazilian president.

The information was published by journalist Malu Gaspar, in the newspaper O Globo, based on statements of entrepreneurs who participated in the event.

As reported, the statement made in the meeting, held on June 6, caused embarrassment among the Federation of Industries of Rio de Janeiro business community. There was an uncomfortable silence after the statement, the journalist noted.

In a note, Braga Netto denied that he had said that without an audit there would be no election, and claimed that there was some kind of “misinterpretation or misunderstanding about the context in which he has made the statement.”