US Congressmen urge Biden to press Bolsonaro for democracy
Press release WBO September 9th 2022
Letter to the US President has the signature of at least 31 representatives and 8 senators
Document accuses Brazilian president of threatening democratic institutions on the eve of the election
US Senate President Patrick Leahy, one of the senators behind the letter asking Biden to put pressure on Bolsonaro out of respect for democracy and the electoral process in Brazil.
A group of 39 Democratic lawmakers – 31 representatives and 8 senators – sent this Friday (9) a letter to US President Joe Biden, asking him to make “unequivocally clear to [Brazilian President Jair] Bolsonaro, his government and security forces that Brazil will find itself isolated from the US and the international community of democracies if there are attempts to subvert the country's electoral process”, in October.
The group of US lawmakers – made up of prominent members of Congress who are influential and active in the US foreign policy agenda – also asks Biden to ensure “that the Brazilian government understands that such efforts [by Bolsonaro against democracy and the electoral system] will have serious consequences, including a review of Brazil's status as a global partner of NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] and [as] an important non-NATO ally", as well as the loss of "US support for Brazil's accession to the OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] and future bilateral defense and security cooperation”.
Lawmakers say in the text that “President Bolsonaro’s reckless and dangerous rhetoric about electoral fraud raises serious fears that he could prevent a peaceful transfer of power if he loses” between the October election and the inauguration in January. The document recalls that “in June, he [Bolsonaro] publicly promised to ‘go to war’ if necessary to avoid a stolen election. On September 7, 2021, President Bolsonaro urged his supporters to attack the country's Supreme Court. More worryingly, President Bolsonaro also called on the Armed Forces to intervene in the electoral process through a parallel vote count, a function constitutionally reserved to the Electoral Justice of Brazil. By doing so, he is jeopardizing the military's constitutional neutrality.
In one of the excerpts, lawmakers refer to the recent memory of the invasion of the Capitol, on January 6. “Having personally experienced the horrors of the January 6 insurrection, we know all too well the consequences that can occur when demagogues promote disinformation about the legitimacy and integrity of electoral processes, publicly attack independent electoral authorities, and incite supporters to support their baseless claims.” says the letter.
Series of warnings
The demonstration by US lawmakers comes after the US Embassy in Brasília published a statement on July 18 in which it reaffirmed its confidence in the Brazilian electoral system and after US Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III defended, in July 27, “firm civilian control of the military” in the Americas, which includes Brazil.
In addition, other senators, such as Democrat Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Sara Jacobs of California, have been collecting signatures from a “sense of the Congress” since August 11th.
Members of the Brazilian delegation are received by Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin, a member of the commission investigating the January 6 Capitol invasion. Credit: Maria Magdalena Arréllaga/WBO
A part of these international efforts takes place after the WBO (Washington Brazil Office) organized, from July 24 to 29, the visit of a delegation with 19 representatives of civil society organizations that went to Washington to alert American congressmen, members of the State Department, local civil organizations and the press about the threats to the Brazilian electoral process this year. The main request was that these interlocutors speak out in defense of democracy in Brazil and recognize the election result as legitimate, as soon as it is announced, regardless of who the winner is.
The proponents of the letter delivered to Biden this Friday (9), in Washington, are Senate President Patrick Leahy (Vermont) and Representative Susan Wild (Pennsylvania), in the House.
Signatories
In addition to Leahy, who is president of the Senate, seven other senators sign the document addressed to Biden: Robert Menendez (New Jersey), Ben Cardin (Maryland), Jeff Merkley (Oregon), Chris Van Hollen (Maryland), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Tim Kaine (Minnesota) and Bernie Sanders (Vermont).
In the House of Representatives the signatories of the letter are: Albio Sires (New Jersey), who is also chairman of the House committee responsible for the Western Hemisphere, in addition to Susan Wild (Pennsylvania), and the following MPs: Raúl M. Grijalva (Arizona), Henry C. "Hank" Johnson (Georgia), James P. McGovern (Massachusetts), Jamie Raskin (Maryland), Ro Khanna (California), Jesús G.” Chuy” García (Illinois), Tom Malinowski (New Jersey), Dina Titus (Nevada), Sara Jacobs (California), Gerald E. Connolly (Massachusetts), Eleanor Holmes Norton (District of Columbia), Cori Bush (Missouri), Katie Porter (Iowa), Jan Schakowsky (Illinois), Maxine Waters (California), Dwight Evans (Pennsylvania), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Andy Levin (Michigan), Grace F. Napolitano (California), Raja Krishnamoorthi (Illinois), Gregory Meeks (New York), Barbara Lee (Texas), Katherine M. Clark (Connecticut), Lucille Roubal-Allard (California), Mar k Pocan (Wisconsin), Steve Cohen (New York), David N. Cicilline (Rhode Island), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York) and Juan Vargas (California) .
