BRASÍLIA — The United States and Australia both suspended all consular services in Brazil on Friday, October 2 — just two days before the first round of Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday, October 4.

Both governments cited unspecified “security concerns” without elaborating. The U.S. State Department advised that American citizens seeking emergency assistance should not come to the embassy, consulates, or any other U.S. diplomatic facility during the suspension, and gave no timeline for when services would resume.

Australia’s embassy soon followed, issuing a similarly brief closure notice citing the same security rationale.

The timing traces to a security scare in Brasília. On October 1–2, police discovered a suspicious backpack near Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF), located close to the U.S. embassy, prompting street closures in the area and the deployment of a bomb squad.

A man was reportedly arrested after allegedly attempting to breach the Supreme Court grounds. Brazilian and international outlets, including France24 and ABC Color, later reported that police ruled out an actual explosive device — the incident was a genuine security response, but not a confirmed bomb.

Political Impacts

The suspensions land amid an already tense election. Sunday’s vote pits leftist incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva against right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, in what’s being described as a tight race in Latin America’s largest economy.

President Trump has said he’s watching the election “very closely,” while Lula has leaned into messaging around Brazilian sovereignty and has warned against U.S. interference in the vote.

Diplomatic service suspensions this close to a major national election are unusual and — although may be justified — are likely to fuel further suspicions in Brazil over the extent of U.S. involvement in its domestic politics, a sensitive subject already inflamed by the funding allegations against Washington.

Whether the consular closures are purely a security precaution tied to the Supreme Court incident, or reflect broader concerns about unrest around the vote itself, remains unclear, as neither government has provided additional detail.

Neither the U.S. nor Australia has indicated when consular operations in Brazil will resume. Brazilian voters head to the polls Sunday, with a runoff scheduled for October 25 if no candidate secures more than half the vote.