Lula Accuses Trump of Trying to Colonise Brazil via Election Interference

Televised Campaign Spot Alleges US Interference

The core of the campaign’s latest salvo centers on a minute-long video broadcast nationwide. In the advertisement, a female narrator claims that Trump is actively working to sway the upcoming election in favor of Lula’s far-right challenger, Flávio Bolsonaro. According to the campaign spot, a victory for the challenger would advance foreign interests in the South American nation at the expense of local sovereignty.

https://x.com/LulaOficial/status/2103283189653385467

“Flávio Bolsonaro is Trump’s candidate and what Trump wants is to colonise Brazil, take our riches, steal our future and leave us in the dust,” the narrator tells viewers in the video. Writing on his official account on X, Lula doubled down on these assertions, stating that Bolsonaro wants to hand natural resources over to the United States and turn Brazil into a colony again.

The allegations arrive with just over a week remaining before the 4 October first-round vote. Recent polling shows Lula and Bolsonaro running neck and neck. If no candidate manages to secure more than 50% of the vote, a second-round run-off is scheduled for 25 October.

Washington Denies Interference Amid Tariff Pressures

The US State Department has forcefully rejected any claims of electoral meddling. In a statement issued last month, the agency dismissed the accusations, declaring that any insinuation of a plot to undermine a democratic nation’s election is a baseless lie.

Despite official denials from Washington, tensions have escalated due to tangible economic pressures. In recent weeks, the Trump administration enacted a 25% tariff on Brazilian imports, a move that has heightened alarm among local officials and foreign observers regarding Washington’s approach to South American trade and diplomacy.

Lula indirectly addressed these pressures during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He told international delegates that Brazil will not allow enemies of democracy—internal or external—to attack the will of the people, emphasizing that Brazilian democracy belongs strictly to Brazilians.

Democratic Lawmakers and Competitors Weigh In

Concerns over the integrity of the electoral process have also attracted scrutiny from lawmakers abroad. Earlier in the week, dozens of US Democratic Party members of Congress dispatched a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The lawmakers denounced what they termed a sustained, multifaceted campaign of interference and destabilisation in Brazil designed to undermine the country’s democratic institutions.

The congressional letter asks whether the Trump administration will commit to respecting the electoral process and requests a formal response by 1 October. The State Department has not yet issued a public comment on the correspondence.

Domestically, unease over foreign influence is not limited to the incumbent’s left-wing base. Renan Santos, a right-wing presidential candidate, released a social media video echoing similar concerns about vassal-state politics. Santos alleged that external actors want to interfere in the election to secure favorable contracts involving rare earth minerals, pointing to the US invasion of Venezuela earlier in January as a cautionary precedent for Latin America.

Mobilization and Intelligence Warnings

Lula’s campaign ad points to a series of recent reports to validate its claims of a concerted foreign operation. These references include allegations regarding the role of Big Tech companies, a confidential intelligence document warning electoral authorities of a critical level of risk regarding US interference, and purported links between Bolsonaro’s campaign and Rockbridge, a conservative donor network co-founded by US Vice President JD Vance.

Éden Valadares, communications secretary for Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT), outlined the campaign’s strategy to address the situation. He noted that President Lula instructed the party to mobilize Brazilian society and react in the streets, with nationwide events planned across the country.

With international scrutiny intensifying and voters preparing to cast their ballots, the outcome of the October vote will determine not only Brazil’s domestic leadership for the next term but also the future trajectory of its geopolitical and economic relations with the United States.