Trump tries to humiliate Brazil in the UN – and only reinforces the need for sovereignty

On the eve of the UN Assembly, Trump denies a view to Lula’s entourage and threatens New York into a stage of political humiliation

New York, eve of the UN General Assembly. While the world is preparing to hear global leaders discuss the direction of peace, climate justice and human rights, Donald Trump’s government has chosen an obscure path: trying to embarrass Brazil. The delegation that will accompany President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – a democratically elected head of state by more than 60 million Brazilians – has not yet been released to enter the United States. Among those affected are ministers such as Alexandre Padilha and Ricardo Lewandowski, whose personal or family visas have been canceled. It is not bureaucracy. It is political retaliation. It is diplomatic frame. It is Trump trying, once again, turning the American soil into a blackbred stage against nations that dare to think for themselves.

This episode is not isolated. It is part of a historical pattern of imperial arrogance. Trump, whose government has already been noted for disregarding multilateral agreements, disregarding the UN and disregarding the dignity of the people of the global south, now tries to prevent Brazil – yes, Brazil – exercising its sovereign right to participate in an international forum to which it belongs by its own right.

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The US territory, where the UN is headquartered, is not a private property of Washington. It is international territory by multilateral agreement. And this agreement ensures unrestricted access to official delegations. Denying visas to representatives of the Brazilian government is not just a diplomatic offense – it is a violation of norms that support the United Nations system itself.

And why do you do that? Because Lula represents something he hates: a leader who speaks in the name of the poor, who defends national sovereignty, who does not bow to the Wall Street or Pentagon Diktat. Lula, who has already been persecuted, arrested and silent by internal and external forces, now returns to the global scenario as a symbol of democratic resistance. And Trump, who ruled with the logic of hatred, exclusion and white supremacy, cannot stand to see a northeastern worker, born in misery, to occupy the same stage as him – and, worse, to be applauded for defending peace, social justice and cooperation between peoples.

The attempted embarrassment is clear: to reach the eve of the UN opening speech without ensuring access by the Brazilian entourage is a calculated gesture. It is a message. It is a way of saying, “You only enter here if you obey our rules.” But Lula’s Brazil does not accept rules imposed by those who despise democracy.

Itamaraty has already signaled that if confirmed the directed restriction, the country could trigger an arbitral procedure within the UN itself. This is not an empty threat. It is an act of defense of sovereignty. It is an act of dignity.

While Trump tries to undermine Brazil’s official presence, the first lady Rosângela da Silva, the Janja, has already landed in New York with her own agenda-and symbolic. Far from being a mere protocol, its early presence is a silent resistance gesture.

While the White House wages, Janja is preparing to participate in meetings on women’s rights, gender equality and social inclusion – agendas that Trump disregarded systematically during his government. Its performance reinforces what Brazil wants to project: a country committed to humanist values, social justice, international solidarity.

Remember: In 2024, Janja chose not to attend a UN conference on women precisely to prevent her presence from being instrumentalized by the Brazilian opposition – a strategic, mature decision that shows political awareness.

Now, in the face of a direct attack on national sovereignty, she returns – not as an extra, but as the protagonist of an agenda that Trump will never understand: the agenda of those fighting for a fairer world.

This episode reveals, once again, the moral fragility of trumpland foreign policy. While the world faces climate crises, wars, hunger and inequality, Trump chooses to lock visas as if it were a border. While Lula speaks of South-South cooperation, in UN Security Council reform, in a new sustainable development paradigm, Trump insists on the logic of confrontation, exclusion, humiliation.

But Brazil is not a passive target. Under Lula, the country resumes its progressive leadership role in the global scenario. We will not accept being treated as vassals. We will not accept that our presence in international forums is conditional on political submission.

If Trump wants to turn the UN into anyone’s land, where the rules are valid only to the weak, Brazil will respond with institutional firmness, active diplomacy and the moral strength of those who defend the founding principles of the United Nations: peace, cooperation, respect for sovereignty and human rights.

The attempted embarrassment may even generate headlines, but will not shut up the voice of Brazil. On the contrary: it will amplify our message. It will show the world that, even in the face of pressure from a power in moral decay, Brazil will follow firmly in its trajectory of autonomy, justice and international solidarity.

Trump wants to humiliate us? That comes. Our sovereignty is not measured by visa released, but for the courage to say no to imperialism. And Lula, Janja and all the Brazilian people know very well what it is to say no – and win.