The Lula government is studying the possibility of reinstating visa requirements for US tourists who want to visit Brazil; the Hora Brasilia website reported Tuesday 21.
The measure was extinguished in 2019 by then-president Jair Bolsonaro after a visit to Donald Trump.
One of the justifications of the PT administration is that there was no counterpart from the United States to Brazilians.
Thus, the visa for tourists is being re-evaluated by the government to understand the impact it had on the flow of tourists in the country.
According to government evaluations, Bolsonaro’s decision had a minimal effect on the entry of Americans into the country in 2019.
The resumption of the tourist visa requirement for Americans, Canadians, Australians, and Japanese was proposed by the transition team of the Lula government at the end of 2022.
THE ISSUE WAS TAKEN UP AGAIN AFTER THE FBI STARTED INVESTIGATING PETROBRAS
However, the subject began to be evaluated after the FBI started an investigation into corruption and money laundering involving Petrobras.
On February 17, the US Justice Department indicted two fuel traders for participating in a bribery scheme to bribe executives of the Brazilian state-owned oil company.
According to the FBI, American Glenn Otzemel and Italian-Brazilian Eduardo Innecco are accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
From 2010 to 2018, the pair allegedly favored two Connecticut-based companies in contracts with the oil company through illicit payments to executives of the state-owned company.
The US authorities did not disclose the names of the companies that benefited from the scheme.
However, a Reuters investigation reported that Otzemel worked for Freepoint Commodities, based in Stamford, Connecticut. Innecco also did some consulting work for the same company.
Also, according to the agency, the Federal Police have been investigating high-ranking Freepoint officials for accusations of bribery to Petrobras executives since 2021.
With information from Gazeta do Povo