Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said that the United States had revoked the visa of Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, a move he termed "irresponsible."
"I wanted to express my solidarity and the government's solidarity with my colleague Lewandowski faced with the irresponsible gesture of the United States in revoking his visa," Lula said on Tuesday during a cabinet meeting, referring to other previously announced US visa restrictions.
"These attitudes are unacceptable — not only against Minister Lewandowski, but also against Supreme Court justices or any Brazilian official," Lula told the ministerial meeting in Brasilia.
The US State Department had yet to confirm the latest in a series of punitive measures taken by Washington against Brazil for putting former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro on trial for alleged coup plotting.
President Donald Trump has also imposed crippling 50-percent tariffs on dozens of Brazilian imports and sanctioned the judge overseeing Bolsonaro's trial, which the US leader has called a "witch hunt."
Bolsonaro, dubbed the "Trump of the Tropics" during his 2019-2022 presidency, risks up to 40 years in prison if convicted of plotting to cling onto power after losing October 2022 elections to the leftist Lula.
He denies the charges and claims his trial is an attempt by the Brazilian judiciary, in league with Lula's government, to prevent him making a comeback in 2026 elections.
He is under house arrest while awaiting the verdict, which the Supreme Court is expected to deliver early next month.
