The Brazilian Army’s request to purchase US$100 million worth of Javelin anti-tank missiles from the US has been stalled for months in Washington amid concerns from US lawmakers about President and re-election candidate Jair Bolsonaro (PL). Several US sources told Reuters about the Brazilian electoral system.
Brazil’s proposal to purchase about 220 Javelin missiles was originally made while Bolsonaro’s ally, former President Donald Trump, was in the White House. The State Department approved the proposal late last year, despite objections from some low-level US officials, according to two people familiar with the matter.
But the previously undisclosed collusion remained in procedural uncertainty amid growing concern among US Democratic lawmakers over questions Bolsonaro raised about the integrity and election security of electronic voting machines.
Brazil’s call for US-made high-tech missiles, famous for the effective use of Ukrainian forces against Russian armored vehicles, was halted in an effort by the Democrats to send a message to Bolsonaro and the Brazilian Armed Forces.
“It’s moving slowly on Capitol Hill and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon,” said a source following the talks, due to uncertainties about Bolsonaro.
The stalemate reinforces the impact of Bolsonaro’s attacks on the electoral system and also illustrates how Brazil could become more isolated internationally if Bolsonaro followed Trump’s example and refused to admit a final defeat in the October election. He currently appears far behind former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in polls.
Still haunted by the January 6, 2021 occupation of the Capitol by Trump supporters, US President Joe Biden’s administration is increasingly annoyed by Bolsonaro’s authoritarian comments, even sending delegations to Brazil to take action.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin brought a message of respect for democracy to Brazil at a meeting of defense ministers in the region in July. The statement comes after CIA director William Burns visited Bolsonaro’s top aides last year in which he said the president must stop shaking confidence in the country’s electoral process.
Bolsonaro ignored the objections. Instead, he continues to question the reliability of Brazil’s electronic voting system and has alleged fraud in the last election without providing evidence.
“Brazil doesn’t need this”
The post-election role of the Armed Forces, which ruled a military dictatorship for two decades after the 1964 coup, is an open question. Bolsonaro said the Armed Forces were on his side and asked the military to conduct its own parallel vote count.
The United States is also concerned about the environmental decline under Bolsonaro, as well as its friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine it has refused to condemn.
Manufactured by defense giants Lockheed Martin Corp and Raytheon Technologies Corp, the Javelin has become one of the most recognizable weapons in the world due to its success against Russian tanks in the Ukrainian war.
Sources said Brazil had not faced similar threats, raising questions about why the country needed such firepower. The Brazilian Armed Forces is mainly focused on protecting its borders, which is among the largest in the world, and fulfilling international peacekeeping missions.
“Brazil doesn’t need them,” said a former aide to the US Congress familiar with the gun issue.
Another source said the State Department’s support for the missile sale showed that the United States wanted to satisfy Brazil by helping to improve relations with one of Washington’s most important military allies in the region.
Planalto Palace sent a response request to the Ministry of Defense, which did not respond to a series of questions.
The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.
The missile purchase order came in 2020, at a time when ties between the United States and Brazil are heating up under Trump and Bolsonaro. In 2019, Trump designated Brazil as the top US ally outside of NATO, giving it greater access to weapons manufactured by US companies.
The deal pierced through the Trump-era bureaucracy and was inherited by Biden, a Democrat who was less friendly to Bolsonaro than his Republican predecessor.
Still, Biden’s State Department gave a preliminary positive nod to the deal after what one familiar with the matter described as only superficial discussions, ignoring the concerns of US diplomats in Brazil and lower-level officials in Washington.
“Given the actions and rhetoric of Bolsonaro, and some of the past actions of Brazil’s military and security services, there are those at State Department operating levels who have expressed concern about this sale,” a US government source said. “Such concerns are not shared between Department of Defense officials or State Department leaders.”
The State Department then submitted the proposed sale for an “unofficial” review by two Democrats who chair Congress’ foreign affairs committees and two top Republican members of the boards. Congressional sources say the issue is not advancing due to concerns from lawmakers, including Senator Bob Menendez, who is a Democrat like Biden, and Representative Gregory Meeks.
They have posed a range of questions to the State Department, from Bolsonaro’s human rights record to whether Brazil needs such weapons, and suggested that lawmakers want to delay the sale until at least after the Brazilian elections, according to a congressional source.
“We do not comment on gun sales cases under current scrutiny,” a commission spokesperson said, adding: “President Meeks considers a number of points when reviewing such transactions, such as the wide range of diplomatic and security dynamics and human rights concerns”.
Sources said there was no indication that the two Republicans had also considered Brazil’s request, with Senator Jim Risch and Representative Michael McCaul expressing any reservations.
A US official acknowledged in response to State Department lawmakers that the Javelin missiles do not protect against any particular threat facing Brazil. However, the ministry argued that Brazil’s attempt to upgrade its anti-armor capacity was legitimate and the country was seeking a reasonable number of missiles.
major obstacles
Despite tensions between Biden and Bolsonaro, the United States remained open to arms sales to Brazil.
“The view is that Brazil has the right to acquire military equipment as it sees fit and in accordance with our laws,” a senior Biden administration official told Reuters.
Even if the sale moves to the next level – a full congressional review – it will still face significant hurdles.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who chairs the Western nations subcommittee, said he wanted to closely examine any sale. Selling arms to Brazil is “not something I think we should do right away,” he told Reuters.
The demand for javelins has grown rapidly since the start of the war in Ukraine. So even if the deal is ratified, it could take years for Brazil to get the missiles due to a backlog of orders, with priority for other US partners.
If the request is denied, sources claim Brazil has other options, notably the cheaper Chinese version of Javelin, the HJ-12.
source: Noticias
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