Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF) has annulled the authorisation granted to a US president’s adviser to visit former Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro, after the government warned against possible foreign interference.
STF judge Alexandre de Moraes revoked on Thursday the authorisation he himself had granted two days earlier for conservative activist Darren Beattie to visit Bolsonaro in prison on March 18.
Beattie, currently a senior adviser on US policy towards Brazil at the US State Department, had previously accused Moraes of persecuting Bolsonaro and his supporters and had advocated imposing sanctions on the judge.
Also on Thursday, Brazil’s foreign ministry stressed that the US had only said Beattie would travel “for a conference on critical minerals and for official meetings with Brazilian government representatives.” Foreign minister Mauro Vieira said that “the visit of a foreign state official to a former president of the Republic in an election year may constitute undue interference in the internal affairs of the Brazilian state.”
During his Brazil visit, Trump’s adviser is also expected to meet senator Flávio Bolsonaro — the former leader’s son and leading right-wing candidate in October’s presidential election — according to local media.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the case that led to Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction to more than 27 years in prison for involvement in an attempted coup, agreed with the government’s arguments and reversed his decision.
Bolsonaro began serving an effective prison sentence of 27 years and three months on November 25, following his conviction on September 11, 2025 for the crimes of armed criminal organisation, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d’état, aggravated damage through violence and serious threats, and vandalism of listed heritage.
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The former president never acknowledged his electoral defeat in the October 2022 presidential election, cast unfounded suspicions on the use of electronic voting machines, encouraged anti-democratic demonstrations outside military bases and, according to the judiciary, plotted to remain in power and even to kill political and judicial adversaries — including Lula da Silva himself and judge Alexandre de Moraes. Events culminated in the January 8, 2023 attacks in Brasília, when thousands of Bolsonaro supporters invaded and vandalised the headquarters of the Supreme Court, Congress and the Palácio do Planalto in an attempted coup to oust Lula da Silva from the presidency.
