Lula accuses Trump of trying to 'colonise' Brazil and steal its resources ahead of October election

From the Newshound archive · first published 25 September 2026 · last updated 26 September 2026.

Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva launched a fierce televised attack on Donald Trump, charging that the US president aims to turn Brazil into an American colony and plunder its natural resources. A one-minute campaign advertisement aired Thursday labels far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro "Trump's candidate" and cautions voters that their country's wealth is at risk of being taken. On X, Lula wrote that Bolsonaro wants to "hand our natural resources over to the United States." The first round of Brazil's presidential election falls on 4 October, with polls placing Lula and Bolsonaro in a statistical dead heat.

Thirty-one Democratic US lawmakers, including Bernie Sanders, wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio accusing the Trump administration of a 'sustained, multifaceted campaign of interference' in Brazil's vote.

The State Department has flatly denied the allegations, calling any suggestion of a ploy to undermine Brazil's election 'a baseless lie.'

Democrats say the pattern extends across Latin America, citing alleged Trump interference in recent elections in Argentina, Honduras and Colombia.