A group of 63 US congressmen, all from the Democratic Party, on Thursday (14) asked President Joe Biden to pressure Jair Bolsonaro with a review of bilateral relations with Brazil, including the withdrawal of the offer for the country become an ally of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Congressmen sent a letter to Biden to send “a clear message” to Bolsonaro about how bilateral relations will be “seriously compromised” if the Brazilian president does not make changes in the political and environmental areas. The Democrats propose to review cooperation in the areas of combating terrorism and drugs and also in the offer for Brazil to become a NATO partner.
The text recalls that in 2019 Brazil was designated as a strategic military ally of the US outside NATO, which, according to congressmen, was used by Bolsonaro for his own political benefit.
This type of designation is given by the US government to several allied countries that collaborate with US forces but are not members of NATO. This status opens the door for delivering surplus defense equipment and organizing joint maneuvers.
“Offering the government of Brazil the opportunity to become a NATO partner would indicate that the US has no serious problem with the violations of human rights, democracy and the environment that occur in Brazil,” warned the group.
Congressmen ask Biden for, at the very least, the US to return to the same degree of relationship it had with Brazil before the mandate of Donald Trump (2017-2021), who had Bolsonaro as one of its main international allies.
This measure would mean canceling the designation of Brazil as a strategic military ally outside NATO, which was granted by Trump himself, and withdrawing the offer for the country to be a partner in the alliance.
Lawmakers argued in the text that Bolsonaro’s term, which began in January 2019, has been marked by undemocratic policies. “Bolsonaro has adopted a number of policies that endanger vulnerable minority groups, generate high unemployment rates, damage the environment, threaten Brazil’s relatively young democracy and lead to the unnecessary deaths of thousands by Covid-19,” argued the Democrats.