US closes consular services in Brazil two days before election; Australia shuts embassy

Two days before Brazilians vote in a tightly contested presidential election, the United States suspended all consular services at its embassy and consulates across Brazil on Friday, citing security concerns it declined to specify. Australia closed its Brasília embassy the same day. By Friday afternoon, Brazil's own federal police had conducted searches in São Paulo and the Federal District — and found nothing.

The US Embassy issued a security alert on Thursday stating that consular services would be suspended starting Friday, October 2. American citizens seeking emergency help were told not to visit the embassy, consulates, or any other US diplomatic facilities. Working closely with Brazilian counterparts to address the concerns, the State Department provided no details on the nature of the threat and stopped short of linking the closure to Sunday's election.

Sophie Davies, Australia's ambassador to Brazil, took to social media to announce that the Australian embassy in Brasília would shut its doors Friday, citing the US alert as the reason and urging Australians to stay away from US diplomatic facilities across the country.

As part of an investigation into suspected plans that could threaten US diplomatic facilities, Brazil's federal police executed preventive search and seizure warrants in São Paulo and the Federal District. The operation, they said, followed cooperation with foreign intelligence agencies. Investigators found no evidence corroborating the initially reported threat and identified no suspects linked to criminal organizations. Police said the inquiry is ongoing following the seizure of communications equipment.

Brazil's foreign ministry declined to comment. The State Department did not say when consular services would resume.

The closures arrived at an already volatile moment in US-Brazil relations. Incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, running for re-election, faces Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in Sunday's election; Flávio is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence for his efforts to reverse the outcome of Brazil's 2022 presidential election. Polls show the race as a statistical tie. Should neither candidate reach 50 percent of the vote on Sunday, voters will return to the polls on October 25 for a runoff.

Lula and his allies have spent weeks warning of foreign interference in the election, pointing to US tariffs and a Washington effort to send officials to Brazil to 'discuss electoral integrity.' Brazilian intelligence officials this month briefed French and German delegations in Brasília on what they described as US and Russian interference in the race, a development that underlined growing concern in Europe over the dynamics of the contest.

It makes no sense at all. It's one of Trump's ways of trying to influence Brazilian public opinion.— Edinho Silva, president of Lula's Workers' Party

Silva called the closures 'unprecedented' at a press conference Friday. Claims of election meddling have been rejected by the State Department.

US President Donald Trump has publicly praised Flávio Bolsonaro without formally endorsing him. Asked at the White House whether he would back Bolsonaro, Trump replied: 'Well, we're looking at that whole thing, and we're watching that election very closely.' In late September, US Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio voicing 'grave concern' over what they characterized as the administration's 'coordinated effort to threaten our strategic alliance with Brazil and undermine the Western Hemisphere's second-largest democracy ahead of its upcoming presidential election,' according to DW.

Alerts about local threats and developments are a routine practice for US embassies and consulates, the State Department noted. The closure of consular services affects Americans in Brazil who need passport, visa, or emergency assistance during the period of suspension.

Why it matters — The closures cut off consular access for Americans and Australians in Brazil at a politically charged moment, and the failure of police searches to confirm any threat leaves the true reason for the shutdown unresolved — with direct consequences for how Sunday's election result may be perceived.

Reported by aljazeera.com, nytimes.com, reuters.com, nbcnews.com, dw.com, abcnews.com