BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) — Brazil has denied visa requests for two officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration who planned to travel to the country to cast doubt on the integrity of its electoral system, two Brazilian officials with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Saturday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the US plan represented an attempt to shape Brazil’s October presidential election. Leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will face right-leaning Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, a Trump ally and son of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost the last election to Lula.

Brazil denied the request for visas on Friday to the US delegation, which would have included Assistant Secretary Riley M. Barnes from the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and also Samuel Samson, a deputy assistant secretary, the Brazilian officials said.

The rejection was based on “evidence pointing to a renewed attempt to politically exploit the situation and undermine the electoral system”, one of the officials said.

Later on Saturday, a US State Department spokesperson said Barnes and Samson would visit Brasília from July 27 to July 30 to meet with government officials, religious leaders and civil society representatives to discuss election integrity, religious freedom and freedom of expression.

The spokesperson rejected any suggestion of a “ploy” to undermine Brazil’s elections, calling such claims “baseless” and describing the visit as routine........

© The Times of Israel