US, Japanese and UK embassies are suspected of meeting Bolsonaro

Published on 07/16/2022 22:21

Last week, when announcing the “live” meeting on Thursday the 7th, Bolsonaro said he would meet “fifty ambassadors or more” – (Credit: Sergio Lima / AFP)

Representatives of some of the major foreign embassies in Brasilia, such as the US, UK, Japan and Russia, have yet to confirm their presence at the meeting with Jair Bolsonaro this Monday, the 18th. The event was convened by the President. Discuss Brazilian electronic voting machines. . Bolsonaro wants to present his never-proven thesis of fraud in the 2014 and 2018 elections to diplomats.

Other embassies have confirmed they will send representatives, such as France and the European Union. There is skepticism in the diplomatic community about the criteria used by the Palacio do Planaldo to select the representatives invited for political reconciliation. Like other European countries such as Sweden, the United Kingdom’s representation in Brasilia was not called until 16 this Saturday night.

As for the US, a decision has not yet been made on whether to participate or not. The embassy’s current head, Charge d’Affaires Douglas Koneff, left Brasilia. He will return to the federal capital only on Monday morning when he will have to decide on the matter. A meeting with Bolsonaro is scheduled for the afternoon.

Announcing the “live” meeting on Thursday the 7th of last week, Bolsonaro said he would meet with “fifty ambassadors or more”.

“I called the ambassadors, I’m going to talk about the 2014 elections, documented, I’m going to talk about the 2020 elections, especially the numbers calculated in São Paulo, I’m also going to talk about 2018, documented, documents from the TSE itself. Partly, because the world knows how the Brazilian electoral system is should,” he said. Despite what Bolsonaro claims, to date there is no evidence of fraud in the electronic voting system.

Other foreign delegations such as Japan, Russia and South Korea have not confirmed whether they will attend the meeting or not. In the South Korean case, the embassy said it was “not aware of any invitation”. Ambassador Lim Ki-mo has traveled to Seoul. Another who left Brasilia was the European Union ambassador, Spaniard Ignacio Yabanez. Therefore, the embassy will be represented by the in-charges.

As for Russia, responding to the embassy’s statement, Estado No information about meeting invitations. Singaporean representatives will also not send representatives. I also contacted the Chinese embassy with this report, but no response. Currently, the Chinese delegation is represented by chargé d’affaires, without an ambassador. “Live,” Bolsonaro said he would use PowerPoint software to create a slide show to show evidence of fraud. “This material will be a PowerPoint for us to show everything that happened in the 2014 and 2018 elections. It is documented. As well as the TSE participation of our three ministers in the electoral process”, he said.

Apart from foreign representatives, the presidents of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and the High Electoral Court (TSE) will not attend the meeting organized by President Jair Bolsonaro with foreign diplomats in Brazil this Monday.

In this meeting, the President will present to the foreigners a report on the so far unproven fraud in electronic voting machines. In a letter sent to the Planaldo Palace, the TSE’s president, Minister Edson Fachin, said his “obligation of impartiality” prevented him from attending the meeting. Luis Fux, head of the STF, will leave Brasilia and return to the capital on Tuesday.

In addition to Fux and Fachin, Bolsonaro also invited Minister Emmanuel Pereira, president of the Supreme Labor Court (TST), to a meeting with foreign dignitaries; and Ana Ares, president of the Federal Court of Audit (TCU) — the latter a congressional advisory panel and not part of the Judiciary. Only Perera confirmed his presence.

The event with ambassadors is still not on Bolsonaro’s official agenda for Monday the 18th. The only scheduled appointment is with Pedro Cesar Sosa, Vice President for Legal Affairs at the Presidential Secretariat, scheduled for 3 p.m.