Diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs met this Tuesday (21) with the charge d’affaires of the United States (USA) Embassy, Kimberly Kelly, to discuss the expulsion of delegate Marcelo Ivo, from the Federal Police (PF).
According to the Estadão with a member of Itamaraty, representatives of the Brazilian government said at the meeting that there may be reciprocity in the measure – therefore, American agents may be expelled from the country.
In a statement, the United States Embassy confirmed the meeting, but said it does not comment on “private diplomatic conversations”. Itamaraty also officially confirmed the meeting.
Despite the warning made at the meeting, the diplomats stated that it will be up to President Lula to make decisions on the issue when he returns to Brazil after his trip to Europe.
Earlier this Tuesday, during a conversation with the press at a hotel in Hannover, Germany, Lula publicly confirmed the possibility of expelling members of the American government.
“If there was American abuse towards our police officer, we will do reciprocity with theirs in Brazil. There is no conversation,” he stated. “In other words, we want things to happen as correctly as possible, but we cannot accept this interference and this abuse of authority that some American figures want to have in relation to Brazil.”
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The United States accused the Brazilian delegate of “manipulating” the immigration system”, “circumventing formal extradition requests” and “extending political persecutions to United States territory”.
The expulsion occurred in the wake of the episode that led the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and consider the deportation of former federal deputy Alexandre Ramagem, who was later released.
Ramagem was convicted by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) of an attempted coup d’état, but his arrest by ICE in the United States occurred because of a traffic violation. The former deputy fled the country in November last year and has remained in the USA ever since.
In an official note at the time of the arrest, the Federal Police claimed that it was international police cooperation between authorities from both countries.
“The arrest resulted from international police cooperation between the Federal Police and US law enforcement authorities,” said the Federal Police note.
“The prisoner is considered a fugitive from Brazilian justice after conviction for the crimes of armed criminal organization, coup d’état and attempted violent abolition of the rule of law”, added the Brazilian corporation about the episode that, now, ended up leading to the request for the departure of the country by delegate Marcelo Ivo.
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Delegate Marcelo Ivo has worked as a liaison officer for the Brazilian PF in Miami since August 2023. His work was with the US Department of Homeland Security, responsible for issues such as immigration and terrorism.
