US No. 2 Diplomat Tours Brazil’s Neighbours

The National Pantheon of the Heroes in Asunción, Paraguay, one of the two capitals on the US Deputy Secretary of State’s itinerary. File photo from 10 January 2026, cropped: Chipachyryry, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

BRAZIL · ELECTIONS · US POLICY

US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau starts a trip to Paraguay and Argentina on Monday 19 October that runs until Monday 26 October. Brazil, which borders both countries, holds its presidential runoff in the middle of that window, on Sunday 25 October.

The State Department’s travel notice, dated Friday 16 October, does not mention Brazil or its election, and the itinerary has no stop there. For US readers the timing matters because Washington’s position on the Brazilian vote is already a question in Congress.

On Thursday 15 October the department replied to Representative Delia Ramirez, an Illinois Democrat who led a letter from lawmakers, without the pledge to accept the certified result of Brazil’s vote that the letter had asked for, Brazilian outlets reported. The Rio Times has not seen the letter itself, so that account rests on those reports.

What the Trip Includes

In Asunción, Landau will lead a trade delegation of US companies to explore investment opportunities and will meet senior Paraguayan officials. The department says the talks will cover expanding trade and investment, regional security cooperation and the fight against transnational crime.

In Buenos Aires he will meet senior Argentine officials and private-sector leaders to build on the launch of the Andes-Atlantic Corridor. That plan, launched on Wednesday 23 September during the United Nations General Assembly’s high-level week, aims to link Argentina’s mineral-rich northwest and its Vaca Muerta energy basin to Atlantic ports.

The department’s fact sheet says a US export-credit framework allows financing of up to US$7 billion by 2027 for projects that advance the corridor. It also lists a non-binding offer of up to US$6 billion from the Export-Import Bank of the United States, Washington’s export-credit agency, for Argentina LNG, a US$51 billion liquefied natural gas project in Vaca Muerta led by the Argentine energy company YPF with Eni of Italy and XRG of the United Arab Emirates.

A Trenes Argentinos Cargas freight locomotive at a level crossing in Funes, Santa Fe province, Argentina. The State Department lists freight-rail concessions among the Andes-Atlantic Corridor projects. File photo from 2021, cropped: PUTAMBORIL, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The notice gives only the overall dates, 19 to 26 October, and not the day of each stop. Our earlier report, Milei Rubio Call Covers Trade on 16 October, also looks at the Argentine leg of the trip.

Who Is Travelling

Landau was sworn in as Deputy Secretary of State on 25 March 2025 and was US ambassador to Mexico from 2019 to 2021, his State Department biography says. The department describes the post as principal deputy and adviser to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and as the officer who acts as Secretary of State in the Secretary’s absence.

His father, George Landau, was later US ambassador to Paraguay, Chile and Venezuela, according to the same biography. Landau is also fluent in Spanish, it adds.

Juan Pablo Segura, who joins him, was sworn in on 14 August 2026 as assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, the bureau that handles US relations with the Americas. Before that he was Virginia’s secretary of commerce and trade under Governor Glenn Youngkin.

Secretary Rubio is not on the trip, because the department’s public schedule for 19 October shows him in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on a journey that continues to India until 22 October. The department’s top two officials are therefore on different continents this week.

Brazil’s Runoff Week

The runoff on Sunday 25 October pits President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party against Flávio Bolsonaro of the conservative Liberal Party, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil’s electoral court, known as the TSE, says the same day also decides the governor’s seat in six states and the Federal District.

In the first round on Sunday 4 October, Flávio Bolsonaro won 47.03% of the valid votes (56,104,503) and Lula 45.16% (53,879,538), with every voting section counted, the TSE’s results show. The two finished less than two percentage points apart.

Paraguay and Argentina are two of Brazil’s neighbours, sharing land borders of about 1,365 km and 1,261 km with it, according to a study published by the Brazilian government. Jovem Pan’s columnist notes that the travel notice presents the mission as economic and security-focused, with no stated link to the Brazilian election.

What Washington Has Said About the Vote

On Thursday 24 September, Representatives Delia Ramirez, Pramila Jayapal and Jesús García led 28 colleagues in a letter asking Rubio whether the administration would respect Brazil’s electoral process and recognise its certified outcome, and Senator Bernie Sanders also signed it. They wrote that US officials had engaged in “a sustained, multifaceted campaign of interference and destabilization in Brazil”, a charge that is the lawmakers’ own and not a finding by any court or agency.

The department’s reply of 15 October was signed by Katherine Bowles, assistant secretary for legislative affairs, and sent to Ramirez, Jovem Pan reported. In Jovem Pan’s Portuguese rendering, it says Washington supports the right of the Brazilian people to a free and fair electoral process and will keep engaging with Brazil’s people, private sector and elected government on security, trade and investment.

The reply did not include the explicit pledge to recognise the certified result that the lawmakers had requested. Jovem Pan adds that the omission is not the same as an announcement that Washington would reject the result.

Relations between Washington and Brazil’s courts have been strained over the past year. The US Treasury sanctioned Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes on 30 July 2025 and removed him from its sanctions list on 12 December 2025, Treasury records show.

What Prediction Markets Say

On Polymarket, an online prediction market, traders price Flávio Bolsonaro at 76.2 cents and Lula at 23.5 cents for the 25 October runoff (19 October, about 8:20 p.m. ET). A price of 76 cents reads as a 76% chance, and the combined “Brazil Presidential Election” market has drawn about US$188.2 million in total bets.

Lula’s price has risen about 3 cents in a day and 11 cents in a week, while Flávio Bolsonaro’s has fallen about 3 cents and 12 cents. These are bets, not polls, and they can move quickly on news.

Why we show this: prediction markets turn real-money bets into a live probability that moves within minutes of the news, which is why investors, campaigns and newsrooms in the United States now follow them closely. We show them next to polls and official results, never instead of them.

What It Means for You

For US companies and investors, the Asunción leg is a sales mission, because a delegation of US firms will look for investment opportunities in Paraguay under a trade-and-security banner. In Argentina the test is whether the corridor’s financing, including the up to US$6 billion Export-Import Bank offer for Argentina LNG, turns from non-binding terms into signed loans.

For readers following Brazil’s election, the trip is something to watch but not evidence of anything about the vote. The department has not tied it to Brazil, and the travel notice names no meeting with any Brazilian official or campaign.

Any US statement after the count will be read against the department’s 15 October reply, which gave no advance pledge on the result. Voting is on Sunday 25 October, and Landau’s trip ends the next day.

What Is Not Known

The travel notice does not say which day Landau reaches each capital, whom he will meet or which US companies are in the Paraguay delegation. It also does not say whether he will comment on Brazil’s vote in public.

The Rio Times has not seen the department’s 15 October letter and relies on Brazilian outlets for its wording. Jovem Pan’s headline presents the trip as Rubio sending his deputy to Brazil’s neighbours, but the department’s notice links it to no election, and we have not seen any Brazilian government reaction to it.

The fact sheet makes a pipeline contract worth more than US$1 billion for Argentina LNG subject to a final investment decision, and it lists the freight-rail concessions as tenders launched in August. Whether any new US financing is announced during the trip is not known.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Christopher Landau?

Christopher Landau is the US Deputy Secretary of State, sworn in on 25 March 2025, and a former US ambassador to Mexico. He is the principal deputy to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Where is Landau going and when?

He travels to Asunción, Paraguay, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 19 to 26 October, with Assistant Secretary Juan Pablo Segura. The State Department has not published the date of each stop.

Is Landau visiting Brazil?

No, the department’s travel notice lists only Paraguay and Argentina and does not mention Brazil’s election. Brazil’s runoff is on Sunday 25 October, inside the dates of the trip.

What did Washington tell Congress about Brazil’s election?

On 15 October the department replied to Representative Delia Ramirez, who led the lawmakers’ letter, and Brazilian outlets report that it backed a free and fair electoral process. The reply gave no explicit pledge to recognise the certified result, according to the same reports.

When is Brazil’s runoff?

The runoff is on Sunday 25 October 2026 between President Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro. In the first round on 4 October, Flávio won 47.03% of valid votes and Lula 45.16%.

Sources: US State Department, Deputy Secretary Landau’s Travel to Paraguay and Argentina, media note of 16 October 2026, US State Department, Public Schedule for 19 October 2026, US State Department, biography of Christopher Landau, US State Department, biography of Juan Pablo Segura, US State Department, Deputy Secretary of State page, US State Department, Andes-Atlantic Corridor fact sheet, 23 September 2026, Representative Delia Ramirez, press release on the letter to Secretary Rubio, 25 September 2026, Superior Electoral Court (TSE), first-round result and runoff candidates, October 2026, TSE, first-round presidential results file, 100% of sections, TSE, Brasil voltará às urnas em 25 de outubro, US Treasury, Treasury Sanctions Alexandre de Moraes, 30 July 2025, US Treasury OFAC, Global Magnitsky Designations Removals, 12 December 2025, Brazilian government (FUNAG), Brasil: Fronteiras Terrestres, Jovem Pan, column by Eliseu Caetano, 19 October 2026, ICL Notícias, on the trip and the reply to lawmakers. Prediction-market prices: Polymarket, “Brazil Presidential Election” market, read on 19 October 2026 at about 8:20 p.m. ET. All retrieved on 19 October 2026.

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