After Granting Visa, U.S. Restricts Movement of Brazil's Minister at UN General Assembly to Five Blocks in NY - Folha de S.Paulo
Despite having granted a visa to Brazil’s Health Minister, Alexandre Padilha, to attend the UN General Assembly, the Donald Trump administration imposed restrictions on his movement in New York City, headquarters of the United Nations.
According to members of the U.S. government, the United States decided to limit the movement of Padilha and his accompanying family members to five blocks from the minister’s lodging, in addition to routes between the hotel, the district where the UN headquarters is located, Brazil’s mission to the organization, and the residence of the Brazilian representative at the UN.
Last month, Trump revoked Padilha’s visa to enter the U.S., along with the documents of his wife and daughter. The justification was the minister’s role in creating the More Doctors program during Dilma Rousseff’s government.
On Tuesday (16), the minister said he didn’t "care at all" about the U.S. response regarding his visa request for the UN. "Only those who want to go to the United States worry about that, I don’t want to go. Only those who want to go there to do lobbying of homeland betrayal, as some are doing, worry about that," he said.
The U.S. and Brazil are on a collision course over Jair Bolsonaro’s trial. Trump, an ally of the former president, referred to the case that convicted him as a witch hunt. He imposed several sanctions on Brazil, including a 50% tariff hike and the suspension of visas for Supreme Federal Court justices and Executive branch officials.
