Brazilian authorities are investigating claims that US government money was earmarked for activities that could interfere in the country’s political process and challenge the authority of its Supreme Federal Court.
Brazil’s Attorney General’s Office has asked the Federal Police and Prosecutor General’s Office to examine reports that Washington planned to provide $1 million for a project called “Countering Lawfare and Censorship in Brazil,” which would reportedly support organisations opposing alleged judicial overreach and censorship.
The funding was said to form part of a wider redistribution of more than $175 million from a US State Department fund towards dozens of overseas initiatives. Brazilian officials said that, if substantiated, foreign financing of coordinated efforts targeting the country’s institutions could constitute interference in its domestic affairs.
The controversy comes immediately before Brazil’s October 4 presidential election and amid already strained relations with Washington, including disputes over trade, US support for former president Jair Bolsonaro, the revocation of Brazil’s ambassador’s visa, and the latest suspension of US consular services in Brazil over unspecified security concerns.
