BRASILIA, March 12 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes denied a request from imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro for a visit from a Trump administration official, a court document showed on Thursday.
Lawyers for Bolsonaro asked the Brazilian Supreme Court earlier this week to allow Darren Beattie, who was recently tapped by U.S. President Donald Trump for a senior advisory role overseeing Brazil, to visit him in prison next week.
Reversing a Tuesday ruling that had initially approved the request, Moraes said the planned visit did not fall within the purposes cited by the U.S. State Department for the issuance of Beattie’s entry visa.
Citing a document sent by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, the judge noted the U.S. official only committed to attend a critical minerals forum and meetings with the government while in Brazil.
Vieira also told the court Beattie had scheduled no meetings with Brazilian officials so far.
“The visit by Darren Beattie … is not part of the diplomatic context that authorized the granting of the visa and his entry into Brazilian territory, nor was it communicated in advance to the Brazilian diplomatic authorities,” Moraes said.
Reuters reported earlier on Thursday the document sent by Vieira stated that Beattie’s visit could be an “interference” in Brazil’s internal affairs.
Bolsonaro, who served as president between 2019 and 2022, was a close Trump ally during the period when both were in office. He is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup against his successor, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Beattie, a critic of Brazil’s current government, was appointed to the position shaping U.S. policy toward the country last month, suggesting relations between the two countries remain delicate despite recent rapprochement.
Beattie provoked a diplomatic incident in August by describing Justice Moraes in an X post as “the key architect of the censorship and persecution complex directed against Bolsonaro.”
Moraes presided over the criminal case against Bolsonaro, who was convicted in September.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Fernando Cardoso; Editing by Franklin Paul, Daina Beth Solomon and Tom Hogue)
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