Brazil bars Trump adviser Darren Beattie over visa misrepresentation

Brazil's government revoked the visa of Darren Beattie, an adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, after discovering he had withheld information about the purpose of his planned visit to the country.

Beattie, who serves as an adviser in the U.S. State Department and oversees policies related to Brazil, had requested entry to participate in an event on critical minerals in São Paulo. Brazilian diplomatic sources said the visa was revoked due to "omission and falsification" of relevant information about the visit's true purpose.

The Brazilian Foreign Ministry learned through press reports that Beattie intended to visit imprisoned former president Jair Bolsonaro in Brasília, where he is serving a sentence for alleged coup-related charges. This plan had not been disclosed when he applied for the visa in Washington.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced the decision Friday during an event in Rio de Janeiro. Lula stated that Beattie would not be permitted to enter Brazil, and linked the measure to the U.S. government's cancellation of visas for Brazilian Supreme Court ministers and members of his administration, preventing them from entering the United States.

Beattie had also requested a meeting with Supreme Court Justice Kassio Nunes Marques to discuss Brazil's electoral process. Nunes Marques, who serves as vice president of the Superior Electoral Court, is set to assume the court's presidency in June and will oversee this year's elections. The justice had agreed to the meeting, though it had not yet been scheduled and will not take place.

Lula conditioned Beattie's entry on the restoration of visas for Health Minister Alexandre Padilha and his family, whose visas were canceled by the U.S. government.

According to reports, Beattie is a far-right activist who is close to Eduardo Bolsonaro, one of the former president's sons.