Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has launched his sharpest attack yet on US President Donald Trump, releasing a campaign video that accuses Trump of backing his opponent in order to seize control of Brazil's natural resources and expand American influence over South America. "What Trump wants is to colonise Brazil," the video states, shared on Lula's official X account alongside the caption: "If it were up to him, Brazil would once again be a colony."
The video, narrated by a female presenter, cites a series of claims to support its case: 25% US import tariffs on Brazilian goods, alleged efforts by major American technology companies to influence the electoral process, and warnings from Brazilian intelligence services about foreign interference. The Lula campaign also alleges that his rival, Flávio Bolsonaro, is backed by the Rockbridge Network — a conservative American donor group co-founded by US Vice President JD Vance. The United States has consistently denied any interference in Brazil's elections.
Flávio Bolsonaro is the eldest son of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted in 2025 of plotting a coup after narrowly losing the previous presidential election to Lula. Flávio is now standing as the main conservative candidate ahead of the first round of the presidential vote on 4 October. At a recent party rally in São Paulo, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters flew a giant balloon depicting Trump holding a doll of Lula dressed in a prison uniform — a sign of the ideological alignment between the two camps, even if Washington stops short of formal endorsement.
Lula's aggressive turn comes as a financial scandal has complicated the political landscape. A recently published police report has linked Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes — the judge who presided over Jair Bolsonaro's conviction — to Daniel Vorcaro, a banker accused of defrauding a state bank and approximately 800,000 customers in what is described as the largest banking fraud in Brazilian history. Moraes denies any wrongdoing, but the conservative camp has successfully used the affair to fuel an anti-establishment narrative and link Lula's image to the embattled judge.
The political fallout has been swift. A recent poll by Brazilian research firm Datafolha shows Lula leading Bolsonaro by just two percentage points — 47% to 45% — within the survey's margin of error. After months in which Lula held a comfortable lead, the race has tightened dramatically. Lula has said that "if Moraes is guilty, he must pay," but the damage appears to be done. With the first round just over a week away, Brazil faces one of its most unpredictable elections in years.