When Alexandre Padilha's father most needed help, the United States took him in.
It was 1971, the peak of the country's brutal 20-year dictatorship, and Anivaldo Padilha, a youthful religious advocate, had been forced to flee his nation after spending 11 long months in one of the city's most infamous torture centres.
Smuggled out of the country by a religious organization to prevent being killed, he made for Uruguay and Chile before finally fleeing to the US. “In America, he was able to live the freedom he could not enjoy in Brazil,” stated his son, Alexandre Padilha, who was born after his parent's departure and only met him eight years later when the political climate in Brazil began to improve.
I’d want to comprehend what risk my 10-year-old daughter poses to the government of the United States
Last month, she and her parent were stripped of their US entry permits as the US administration targeted people associated with Brazil’s government and judiciary as part of unsuccessful efforts to help former leader Jair Bolsonaro avoid prosecution for masterminding a 2022 coup attempt.
“I want to know what risk my young daughter represents to the government of the United States … that means she cannot visit the US,” remarked Alexandre Padilha, who is Brazil’s health minister and a key ally of its leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Speaking publicly, Padilha called the decision to target his child as an “shocking absurdity” and a “political abuse”.
Ahead of Bolsonaro’s court case, US authorities imposed sanctions on prominent national justices; revoked the travel documents of several of Brazil’s 11 highest court judges; and introduced trade duties on Brazilian goods.
After Bolsonaro’s conviction, a American representative suggested the US would further retaliate against Brazil and “react appropriately to this unjust process”.
Recently, it was declared that the entry permits of two government officials involved in creating Brazil’s Mais Médicos health program had been revoked, allegedly because of the scheme's use of Cuban doctors.
The minister thought he had avoided losing his permit because it had already expired. He has yet to been granted a travel authorization for next week’s UN general assembly in New York.
American authorities asserted the individuals were selected because the Brazilian program – which has provided medical services to isolated areas – had contributed to benefit “a certain government” and reduced their own people of essential medical care.
However Padilha, who clarified foreign medics were no longer participating in a system he attributed with preserving millions of lives, believed that was a false justification.
Actually, the minister argued the decision to target people linked to the health initiative – including, by extension, his daughter – was a example of a dual attack on public health and democracy.
Trump’s effort to coerce Brazil's president into “meddling” in Brazil’s autonomous legal system over Bolsonaro’s case was an authoritarian affront. “None of this will deter us,” Padilha vowed. “[We will not] abandon on protecting our freedom.”
Attacking international health means attacking the well-being of your very people too.
At the same time, the official believed the focus of the Brazilian medical program was a reflection of a politician who had initiated a sustained campaign on health systems and science – in the US and around the world – since regaining power.
“Since the beginning of this administration, there has been a series of attacks on health in the US and global health,” Padilha said, highlighting how funding for the development of advanced immunizations had been cut, public health leaders sacked, and institutions restructured.
“Scientists have been persecuted, funding for academic institutions slashed … and there are plans to exit from the WHO.”
“Ninety per cent of the organization's operations in Africa were funded with the US’s voluntary contribution – and this was eliminated,” explained Padilha, an medical specialist.
“This will affect Africa, which is extremely concerning in itself, but it will also affect the whole world … Undermining global health means attacking the health of your own people too.
“This is why I say we see these actions [against my relatives] as an shocking absurdity but also as having a certain alignment with the other astonishing actions the leader of the US has committed.”
The minister stated his parent was perplexed by the “unthinkable” US action to punish his granddaughter. “I never expect the nation that offered me shelter, that saved my life … handling my grandchild so unjustly,” he quoted the 85-year-old man as saying.
But the official suggested the hostile health approach could prove an chance for his country. Whereas the US has cut funding in modern immunizations, the Brazilian government was pumping significant sums of dollars into medical institutions, which are pushing ahead with the creation of such critical vaccines.
“Come to Brazil,” was Padilha’s invitation to US-based researchers and biomedical firms who were facing pressure because of the “instability” during the current US government.
“I like to joke that Brazil has managed to bring an foreign coach to guide the Brazilian football team. Currently we’re attracting many researchers to relocate and do their research in Brazil,” said Padilha, who mentioned officials had already detected an arrival of professionals from the US.
“Agreements with US companies have been ended … and we’re going to attract them to put resources here in Brazil.”
A spokesperson for the US embassy declined to respond on why the travel documents of Padilha’s child and spouse had been revoked.
