Latest update September 20th, 2026 10:40 AM
Brazil’s democracy is again under threat from the right
Dear Editor,
It is worth remembering how the Biden Administration saved democracy in Brazil and the World would have to do the same.
I couldn’t help but reflect as the election campaign that is going on in Brazil for general election that will be held on the 4th of October 2026. Once again Brazil’s democracy is under threat and could be undermined from the right wingers, the same that threatened the second largest democracy on the 2nd October 2022 in the Western Hemisphere. Arguably America could be remembered for its failed policy and interventions in many countries but there are times when America must be given credit for its success and help that would avoid devasting consequences. The Biden Administration should be remembered for saving democracy in Brazil.
Returning to the Reuters article “EXCLUSIVE CIA chief told Bolsonaro government not to mess with Brazil election, sources say,” was telling and showed how serious America took democracy and election in Brazil and wasn’t afraid to pile the pressure. According to the article “The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director last year told senior Brazilian officials that President Jair Bolsonaro should stop casting doubt on his country’s voting system ahead of the October election, sources told Reuters.
The previously unreported comments by CIA Director William Burns came in an intimate, closed-door meeting in July, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Burns was, and remains, the most senior U.S. official to meet in Brasilia with Bolsonaro’s right-wing government since the election of U.S. President Joe Biden. A third person in Washington familiar with the matter confirmed that a delegation led by Burns had told top Bolsonaro aides the president should stop undermining confidence in Brazil’s voting system. That source was not certain whether the CIA director himself had voiced the message.” (Reuters)
From the article, “How U.S. Pressure Helped Save Brazil’s Democracy” made the case clearly and showed how democracy was saved in Brazil by US. “This tide of criticism may explain why one of Biden’s most significant foreign-policy achievements to date remains curiously overlooked. Not only was Brazil’s democracy closer to the brink than initially understood, but targeted U.S. pressure on key Brazilian officials was likely decisive in guaranteeing the eventual outcome: a largely peaceful transition of power in the country after its October 2022 presidential election.
The account presented in this article comes from interviews with Brazilian policymakers and issue-area experts as well as Brazilian and international media reports. In conversations with Foreign Policy, several individuals, including a high-ranking Brazilian diplomat and a military expert, confirmed that, in their views, external pressure was critical to preventing members of Brazil’s military from executing Bolsonaro’s plans for a coup.” https://www.almendron.com/tribuna/how-u-s-pressure-helped-save-brazils-democracy/
Once again Brazil’s democracy is under threat from the right for the 4th October general election and everything legally possible has to done to save what have been protected and secure from 2nd October, 2022 to presently. The world owed it to protect democracy in Brazil from the right and to make sure that Brazil doesn’t return to the dictatorship like it did in its history. A book everyone should read is “Disputed Pasts: Forgetting and Remembering the Dictatorship in Brazil, by Cristina Buarque de Hollanda and José Szwako.”
Yours sincerely,
Sharmini Rampersaud
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