(AFP) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday warned he would hit back with reciprocal measures after Washington expelled a Brazilian police attache in the latest spat between the two countries. The leftist leader’s comments came after the United States ordered Commissioner Marcelo Ivo, a liaison officer in Miami for Brazil’s federal police, to leave the country.
According to Brazilian media, Ivo was involved in the arrest in the United States of Brazil’s fugitive ex-spy chief Alexandre Ramagem, a close ally of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro. Ramagem, who fled Brazil after being sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of helping Bolsonaro attempt a coup to overthrow Lula, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on April 13. He was released two days later.
The episode has stirred longstanding tension between US President Donald Trump’s administration and Lula’s left-wing government. Lula lashed out at Washington’s expulsion of Ivo. “If there has been an abuse of power by the United States against our police officer, we will retaliate against their police officers in Brazil,” Lula, currently on a European tour, told a press conference in Hanover, Germany. “We cannot accept this interference, this abuse of power, which certain US officials wish to exert over Brazil,” he added.
The US State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said on Monday it had asked a Brazilian official to leave the country for attempting to manipulate the American immigration system to prolong what it termed a “witch hunt.” In 2025, Trump used the same term to describe the Brazilian Supreme Court trial that led to the conviction of Bolsonaro, Ramagem, and other former officials for attempting a coup after Bolsonaro’s 2022 election defeat by Lula. Bolsonaro is now under house arrest.
The ex-president’s son Eduardo Bolsonaro said he was “especially grateful” to Trump for the US authorities’ handling of Ramagem, whom he called a “true national hero.” Lula, who previously served as Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2011 and returned to office in 2023, will seek another term in October elections that will see him go up against another son of Bolsonaro senior, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro.
© 2024 AFP
