By Gram Slattery, Humeyra Pamuk and Lisandra Paraguassu
WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The Trump administration has appointed a hard-right critic of Brazil’s current government to a position shaping U.S. policy toward the South American nation, a move that suggests relations between the Western Hemisphere’s two largest democracies remain delicate despite a recent rapprochement.
Darren Beattie, who is also the acting assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, was tapped recently for a senior advisory role overseeing Brazil, said three sources familiar with the matter, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss non-public personnel moves.
The move was confirmed by a senior State Department official, who said Beattie “currently serves as a Senior Advisor for Brazil Policy.”
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
In August, Beattie, who was fired as a White House speechwriter in 2018 for addressing an event frequented by white nationalists, provoked a diplomatic incident after describing Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes in an X post as “the key architect of the censorship and persecution complex directed against (former Brazilian President Jair) Bolsonaro.”
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Brasilia to explain the comments.
Moraes, the judge Beattie criticized, presided over the criminal case against Bolsonaro, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump. Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup to overturn Brazil’s 2022 presidential election and is now serving a 27-year jail sentence.
The U.S. had sanctioned Moraes in July, with Trump officials accusing him of authorizing arbitrary pre-trial detentions and suppressing freedom of expression as he presided over cases related to the 2022 coup plot.
After the sanctions against Moraes were announced, Eduardo Bolsonaro, one of the ex-president’s sons and a prominent right-wing politician in Brazil, thanked Beattie for his efforts in an X post. Another son of Bolsonaro, Flavio, is a leading contender in Brazil’s next presidential election in October.
UP-AND-DOWN RELATIONSHIP
While Beattie worked last year to counter what the Trump administration considers undue censorship in foreign countries, his new appointment signals a focus on Brazil going forward.
It also suggests that Washington has not jettisoned its free speech concerns in Brazil, nor has it totally made peace with the leftist government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Two Brazilian government officials said they were not yet aware of Beattie’s appointment, adding that his impact on bilateral relations would depend on how much power he was given internally. The officials said they were wary given Beattie’s public statements.
Washington’s relationship with Brasilia turned chilly after Trump returned to office last year. In addition to hitting Brazilian officials with sanctions, the U.S. slapped tariffs on Brazilian goods, due in part to what Trump called unjust persecution of Bolsonaro.
But ties improved after Lula and Trump met briefly at the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September, where the U.S. president said they had an instant rapport. Late last year, the Trump administration lowered tariffs on some Brazilian goods and lifted sanctions on Moraes.
LULA COMES TO WASHINGTON
The next big test in the Trump-Lula relationship may come in the next few weeks, as Lula said he plans to visit Washington in March.
Lula has emerged as a leading critic of the U.S. operation to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro last month, as well as its efforts to cut off oil flows to Cuba.
In addition to Beattie’s new Brazil position and his work as the acting head of the State Department’s educational and cultural affairs bureau, he is the president of the U.S. Institute of Peace, a national institute funded by Congress that is tasked with global conflict resolution.
In December, the Trump administration renamed it the “Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace,” though the administration may not have legal authority to change its name.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Beattie suggested the U.S. intelligence community could be behind attempts to kill Trump. He also drew accusations of racism and sexism for saying on social media that “competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work”.
In 2021, he tweeted: “Imagine having respect for the State Department.”
(Reporting by Gram Slattery and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington and Lisandra Paraguassu in BrasiliaEditing by Brad Haynes and Peter Graff)
