https://arab.news/bytwv
- Foreign ministry official Marcelo Marotta said a refusal to grant the visas would be a “legal violation” by the US
BRASILIA: Brazilian officials have yet to receive visas to attend the UN General Assembly in New York next week, the foreign ministry said Monday, as trade and diplomatic ties with Washington remain strained.
The trial and conviction of Brazil’s far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro angered his ally Donald Trump, the US president who has already slapped a 50-percent tariff on Brazilian imports.
“We have received information from the US government that the visas have not yet been granted. They are being processed,” foreign ministry official Marcelo Marotta Viegas told a press conference.
He said a refusal to grant the visas would be a “legal violation” by the United States.
Viegas did not say how many visas were pending approval.
“It’s concerning,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said of the visa delay.
Bolsonaro was sentenced last week to 27 years in prison for a botched coup attempt.
Aside from the tariffs, Washington has also revoked the visas of several Brazilian Supreme Court judges and a government minister.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that further US action could be expected to pressure Brazil over Bolsonaro’s conviction.
“We’ll have some announcements in the next week or so about what additional steps we intend to take,” Rubio told Fox News from Jerusalem on Monday.