Reuters SPECIAL-CIA director told Brazilian government in July that Bolsonaro should stop questioning the integrity of elections 05/05/2022 09:25

(Text updated with rejection by Heleno and Bolsonaro and letter by Heleno)

by Gabriel Stargardter and Matt Spetalnick

RIO DE JANEIRO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) told senior Brazilian officials last year that President Jair Bolsonaro should stop questioning the country’s electoral system before the election.

CIA Director William Burns’ comments, which have not yet been made public, were made at a closed-door meeting in July, according to two people who spoke on anonymity and had knowledge of the matter. Burns was and still is the most senior US official to meet with the Bolsonaro administration in Brasilia since the election of US President Joe Biden.

A third person in Washington with knowledge of the matter confirmed that the delegation led by Burns had told senior Bolsonaro aides that the president had to stop undermining confidence in Brazil’s electoral system. The source wasn’t sure if it was the CIA director himself who was expressing the message.

The CIA declined to comment. The Presidential Office of Institutional Security (GSI), headed by Secretary Augusto Heleno, said in a statement that the meeting with Burns was made public.

“In the field of intelligence, the issues discussed at the meetings are confidential,” GSI said. “GSI does not receive or transmit messages from any country in the world.”

Later, in the president’s traditional weekly live broadcast, Bolsonaro and Heleno denied that message had been given.

“That never happened, there was no exchange of opinions about elections, neither in the US nor here,” Heleno said.

Burns arrived in Brasilia six months after the occupation of the Capitol on January 6, following the defeat of former US President Donald Trump in the US election.

Bolsonaro, who idolizes Trump, reiterated the former US leader’s baseless claims that the 2020 US election was fraudulent. He raised similar questions about Brazil’s electronic voting system, saying it was open to fraud without providing evidence.

This has fueled fears among his opponents that Bolsonaro, behind former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the opinion polls, has sown doubt so that he can follow Trump’s example by denying a possible defeat in the October election.

Bolsonaro has expressed the opinion of not accepting the results several times and has repeatedly attacked the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE). Last week, Bolsonaro suggested in his latest offensive that the military should conduct its own vote count in parallel with the courtroom.

Two sources warned of a possible institutional crisis should Bolsonaro lose by a narrow margin, and much attention has focused on the Brazilian Armed Forces, which ruled the country from 1964 to 1985 during a military dictatorship celebrated by Bolsonaro.

During his unannounced visit, Burns, a career diplomat appointed by Biden last year, met with Bolsonaro and two top intelligence advisers – Heleno and Abin, then head of the Brazilian Intelligence Service – Alexandre Ramagem, at the Palácio do Planalto. Both were Bolsonaro’s appointments.

Burns also had dinner at the residence of Heleno and then-Civil Assembly minister Luiz Eduardo Ramos, two former generals and the US ambassador. The Brazilian Army has historically been close to the CIA and other US intelligence services.

At dinner, Heleno and Ramos tried to downplay the importance of Bolsonaro’s repeated allegations of election fraud, according to one source. In turn, according to the source, Burns told them that the democratic process is sacred and Bolsonaro should not speak that way.

“Burns was making it clear that the elections were not something they should mess with,” the source, who was not authorized to speak in public, said. “It wasn’t a sermon, it was a speech.”

In a letter dated September 2 sent by Heleno to his aide Luciano Bivar (União-PE), the GSI minister said he was present at the dinner presented by the US ambassador. In the official letter published on the House of Representatives website, Heleno said that “the reconciliation was described as a courtesy and naturally took place through informal discussions on matters of mutual interest between Brazil and the United States.”

BIDEN AMBASSADOR It is not uncommon for CIA executives to send political messages. But Biden authorized Burns, one of America’s most seasoned diplomats, to be a prudent White House spokesperson.

For example, Burns said in a public speech last month that in November, four months after visiting Brasilia, Biden sent him to Moscow “directly to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and several of his close advisers to convey the depth of our concern.” about war plans and the consequences for Russia,” he said.

The content of his comments in Brasilia was reinforced after US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s visit to Bolsonaro and his trip this month, when he voiced similar concerns about attacks on electoral confidence. But the Washington-based source said, without going into details, that the message from Burns’ delegation was stronger than Sullivan’s.

“It is important that Brazilians trust their electoral systems,” an official from the US State Department said in response to a request for comment, adding that the US trusts Brazilian institutions, including free, fair and transparent elections. .

But last Saturday, in another sign of unrest among the Washington foreign policy establishment, the former US consul in Rio de Janeiro wrote in a Brazilian newspaper that the US should make it clear to Bolsonaro that any attempt to undermine the election must have multilateral consequences. sanctions.

Biden and Bolsonaro have not yet commented.

During the 2020 US presidential campaign, the two clashed over Bolsonaro’s environmental record, and Bolsonaro was one of the last world leaders to recognize Biden’s victory over Trump.

Officials in Washington have sought to improve relations with Brasilia in recent weeks, and the heads of the Western Hemisphere’s two largest countries could soon meet face-to-face if Bolsonaro attends the Americas Summit, scheduled for June in Los Angeles.