In Washington, Brazilian delegation warns of threats to elections in Brazil
Press release WBO 31th July 2022
The Brazilian delegation during a meeting with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, in Washington. At the center of the picture, Camila Asano, from Conectas Human Rights. Credit: Maria Magdalena Arréllaga/WBO
US Representatives and Senators receive a delegation from 18 Brazilian civil society organizations
The group's intention is to ask that the result of the presidential election be recognized immediately, to avoid coup attempts
A delegation with representatives from 18 Brazilian civil society organizations will be in Washington, USA, between July 24 and 29, to participate in more than 20 meetings with members of the U.S. State Department, congressmen, senators, and representatives of social and union organizations. The intention is to alert to threats to the Brazilian electoral process and ask for a firm position in relation to respect for the result of the vote, whoever the winner is.
“The whole world is following closely the 2022 presidential elections in Brazil. In the US, there is an even greater sensitivity, because of the attempts to subvert the U.S. electoral process in 2020 and the invasion of the Capitol in 2021. Brazilian organizations therefore have a lot to say and to listen to in this series of meetings”, said Paulo Abrao, executive director of the WBO (Washington Brazil Office), the institution that organizes the delegation's visit.
On Tuesday (26), the group will be received at the U.S. State Department, which is the equivalent of the U.S. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and at the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives. On Friday (29), there will be a bilateral meeting with Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, who is on the front line of the Parliamentary Committee investigating the invasion of the U.S. Capitol, on January 6, 2021.
Also in Congress, over the five days, there will be bilateral meetings with different Democratic representatives. In the Senate, the group will be welcomed by Democrat Bernie Sanders (Vermont). Ambassadors from different countries will also receive the Brazilian delegation, which will also have meetings with local civil society organizations and Think Thanks such as the Atlantic Council, Wola (Washington Office on Latin America), the Wilson Center, in addition to the American cooperation agency USAID, among others.
“Representatives of the Black, LGBTIQA+, Indigenous and environmental movements, among others, will be at the forefront of these dialogues, speaking for themselves about the situation Brazil faces,” said James Green, president of the WBO Board of Directors. “It is important that these representatives of Brazilian civil society be heard firsthand, personally, without intermediaries, because they are, after all, the protagonists of many of the human rights violations experienced in Brazil recently, and they are the ones who bring this concern about the importance of respecting the result of the 2022 election”.
