Bernie Sanders and Democrats denounce coup-mongering against Brazil
31 Democratic lawmakers accuse Donald Trump of using tariffs, sanctions and visa restrictions to tilt Brazil’s Oct. 4, 2026, election toward Flávio Bolsonaro and demand that Marco Rubio sign a formal commitment to respect the vote by Oct. 1. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s campaign says the game has already started on the platforms too.
On Sept. 24, 2026, the Trump administration’s pressure on Brazil’s election took on a formal paper trail. 31 Democratic lawmakers in the United States Congress — Senator Bernie Sanders and 30 House members, among them Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Pramila Jayapal, Ilhan Omar, Ro Khanna and Joaquin Castro — sent Secretary of State Marco Rubio a letter describing Washington’s measures against Brazil as a “continuous and multifaceted campaign of interference and destabilization,” and gave the State Department until Oct. 1, 2026, to respond.
The initiative came from Representative Delia Ramirez, of Illinois. The first round of Brazil’s presidential election is set for Oct. 4, 2026, with polls showing a technical tie between Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro. Jair Bolsonaro, convicted over the coup plot that followed his 2022 defeat to Lula, is under house arrest, is barred from running and named his son as candidate.
Seven questions with a deadline
The letter asks for no gestures. It makes seven demands of Rubio: explanations of the methodology used to review sanctions requests against foreign nationals; the evidentiary standard for sanctioning Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes under the Magnitsky Act; the justification for designating Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV) as terrorist organizations; details of coordination with regional partners on democracy and human rights; the justification for revoking the visa of Brazil’s ambassador in Washington, Maria Luiza Viotti; a formal commitment to respect Brazil’s electoral process; and a formal commitment to recognize the certified result of the 2026 vote. CNN Brasil published the document in full.
Each item on the list refers to a documented episode from the past 14 months. Trump announced an additional 50% tariff on Brazilian goods starting Aug. 1, 2025, citing as motive the trial of Jair Bolsonaro at the STF and Brazilian court orders against American platforms, and in July 2026 his administration imposed another 25% under the Section 301 trade law. The United States sanctioned Moraes on July 30, 2025, under the Magnitsky Act, the U.S. law providing for sanctions over serious human rights abuses, and removed him from the list only in December 2025, without a public explanation. Trump received Flávio Bolsonaro at the White House in May 2026, where he called for the PCC and Comando Vermelho to be designated as terrorist organizations; two days later the State Department announced the measure, according to BBC News Brasil. The same report also notes the controversy surrounding Darren Beattie’s appointment as the State Department’s senior adviser on Brazil.
For the signatories, the whole amounts to an “extraordinary violation” of Brazilian sovereignty — and mirrors a regional pattern spanning the elections in Argentina, Honduras and Colombia.
The State Department has yet to provide a substantive response. A spokesperson told Folha that the United States wants free and fair elections and that choosing the president is up to Brazilians.
Meta entered the campaign
On the same Sept. 24 that the letter circulated, Lula’s campaign was appealing the suspension of its advertising account at Meta, the company owning Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The “Eleições 2026 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Presidente” advertising account was disabled on Sept. 23, 2026, 11 days before the first round, and the coalition and the Workers’ Party (PT) demanded restoration within 6 hours, alleging a unilateral block that threatened a level playing field among the candidates, according to Poder360. The platform’s notice said only that some activities broke its rules, without naming the rule, and the restriction barred creating new ads and using segmented audiences, per Metrópoles. Lula’s Facebook page was also disabled, and the campaign is weighing an appeal to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), CartaCapital reports.
Meta had not explained the block as of Sept. 24, 2026. The asymmetry has become part of the broader dispute over foreign interference in Brazil’s election: Flávio Bolsonaro’s account remains active while Lula’s is disabled and unable to run ads. Lula has himself framed U.S. pressure on Brazil as interference, including in his speech at the UN.