WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Rick Scott sent a letter to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro urging the him to reconsider Brazil’s January 25, 2021

The Honorable Jair Bolsonaro

President of Brazil

Dear President Bolsonaro:

Thank you for the great work you are doing as we continue to strengthen the economic partnership between the United States and Brazil. I appreciated our discussions both during my last trip to Brazil and your visit to Miami last year on how we can work together to promote freedom throughout Latin America and end Maduro’s ruthless regime in Venezuela. I look forward to continuing to boost the economic partnership between Florida and Brazil and grow our great trade and commerce relationship.

I write today to express my concern about Brazil’s decision to open the country’s 5G network auctions to Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

I know you understand the dangers of Chinese technology. General Secretary Xi has set up a massive surveillance infrastructure masked as technology “businesses,” like ZTE and Huawei, which threaten national security and give Communist China invaluable information to further their mission to surveil and influence governments and individuals all over the world. There is no separation between the Communist Chinese government and Huawei. This is one bad actor operating across the globe.

Huawei’s goal is to squeeze out competitors around the world so countries have no choice but to allow Huawei in. It’s a false choice. There are alternatives to Huawei. They may not enjoy the same government backing as Huawei and thus may cost more. But the cost of allowing Huawei to gain a foothold in Brazil would be far greater.

Countries that do business with Huawei put their citizens’ and country’s privacy rights at grave risk. Countries that allow Huawei in give Communist China direct access to the most sensitive data of their citizens, including medical records, financial information, and social media accounts. It also presents a significant national security concern for the United States and the ability of our military to share information with trusted partners.

Admiral Craig Faller, Commander of the U.S. Southern Command, warned that “If governments in Latin America and the Caribbean continue to gravitate toward using Chinese information systems, our ability and willingness to share information over compromised networks is likely to suffer.”

I value the partnership our nation has with Brazil, and look forward to further strengthening that relationship moving forward. I hope that you will give serious consideration to the concerns I have presented here. I urge Brazil to heed this warning about the dangers of Communist China, and refuse to allow Huawei in your 5G networks.

Sincerely,

Rick Scott

United States Senator

###