Stop the Imperialist Offensive Against Brazil!

Donald Trump and Flávio Bolsonaro in the White House's Oval Office on May 2026 -- public domain image

Stop the Imperialist Offensive Against Brazil

Political Note from the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB)

The recent actions of the Trump administration against Brazil definitively dismantle the illusions of those who believed it was possible to establish a relationship of trust with U.S. imperialism. Once again, a historical truth is confirmed: as the PCB has been warning for quite some time, imperialism has no permanent friends, partners, or allies. It has only interests. And its interests mean the subjugation of peoples, control over markets, appropriation of strategic wealth, and the imposition of governments docile to its designs.

In just a few days, Washington has unleashed a new offensive against our country. First, it classified the Red Command and the PCC as terrorist organizations, setting a dangerous precedent to justify future interference in Brazilian internal affairs. Then, it announced new trade barriers and tariffs on Brazilian products, using ridiculous and arbitrary arguments to attack sectors of our economy and pressure the Lula administration.

Not satisfied, the representatives of imperialism began to question our sovereignty, claiming that Brazil represents a challenge to the United States because it does not fully align with U.S. foreign policy interests, making it clear that the real problem is not trade, public security, or any other pretext presented. The problem is that Brazil does not fully serve Washington's interests. These measures, therefore, aim only to create pretexts to blackmail the country and plunder our riches.

The most revealing element of this offensive was the explicit show of political support for Bolsonarism. By publicly praising Flávio Bolsonaro, Trump made it evident that the Brazilian far right remains his main bet to expand U.S. influence over Brazil. Imperialism has already chosen its preferred candidate because it knows that Bolsonarism represents the political current most submissive to foreign interests and most hostile to national and popular sovereignty.

This episode once again reveals the shameful role of the far right as a veritable fifth column of imperialism within our country. While it poses as patriotic before the cameras, it conspires behind the scenes against national interests. While it wraps itself in the Brazilian flag, it kneels before the flag of the United States. While it speaks of sovereignty, it works to turn Brazil into a colony subordinated to Washington's interests.

Flávio Bolsonaro embodies this posture in a servile manner. Instead of defending Brazil against foreign aggression, he seeks political support from the U.S. government, encouraging pressure against his own country. To escape the Master Bank scandals, where he was caught red-handed, he fled abroad promising to hand over Brazil in exchange for U.S. protection. Only a vassal and sycophant of this kind, a typical representative of the ruling classes and the most subservient sectors of Brazilian society, would ask a foreign government to intervene in his own nation.

History shows that U.S. imperialism and its allies always use the same methods. First, they fabricate pretexts. Then they promote diplomatic, economic, and political pressures, and even military invasion. Next, they fund their internal allies with the goal of shaping the political direction of the countries they intend to control. That is how it has been in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and countless other regions of the world. That is how they are trying to do it in Brazil.

Faced with this scenario, the construction of an Anti-imperialist and Anti-capitalist Front becomes increasingly urgent, one capable of bringing together the trade union movement, popular organizations, youth, democratic sectors, and all true patriots willing to defend national sovereignty and the interests of the working people. This Front will be stronger if we can form Popular Anti-imperialist Committees in workplaces, schools, homes, and communities, so as to bring all the people into this battle in defense of national and popular sovereignty.

This struggle cannot be limited to an abstract defense of sovereignty. The defense of the nation is inseparably linked to the defense of the workers' agenda. There will be no national independence as long as the financial system controls the economy. There will be no sovereignty as long as our strategic wealth is subject to foreign capital. There will be no true democracy as long as the majority of the people remain excluded from the country's fundamental decisions.

That is why the fight against imperialism must go hand in hand with the fight for workers' rights, for the repeal of counter-reforms, for wage appreciation, for a reduction of the workweek without pay cuts, for control of our natural resources, and for the construction of a popular project for Brazil. The hour demands organization, consciousness, and mobilization.

No achievements will come from backroom negotiations. Only the strength and organized struggle of workers, youth, and the people can defeat this imperialist offensive and its internal agents.

Down with imperialism and its domestic lackeys!

For national sovereignty and the rights of the working people!

Organize, mobilize, and fight!

National Political Commission of the PCB