Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva accuses Trump of trying to influence the elections in Brazil

The campaign of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva accuses Donald Trump of trying to influence Brazil’s presidential election to favor Flávio Bolsonaro’s candidacy and gain access to the country’s natural resources. The accusations appear in an election ad broadcast just over a week before the first round, scheduled for October 4.

In the video, Lula’s team claims that Trump wants to “colonize” Brazil, take control of its wealth and steal its future. Lula, in turn, said that Bolsonaro would like to hand Brazil’s natural resources over to the United States.

The U.S. State Department rejects the accusations, calling them “an unfounded lie,” and denies the existence of a plot to undermine the election. Washington is nevertheless accused of diplomatic and economic pressure, including through 25% tariffs imposed on Brazilian imports.

Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro are tied in the polls. If no candidate wins a majority, the second round is scheduled for October 25. Concerns about possible U.S. interference have also been voiced by Democratic members of Congress in the United States, as well as by another Brazilian right-wing candidate, Renan Santos. He cites reports about the involvement of technology companies, links between Bolsonaro’s campaign and the conservative Rockbridge network, and a Brazilian document that would assess the risk of U.S. interference as “critical.”