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When Alexandre Padilha's parent was in desperate need of assistance, the United States took him in.

This occurred in 1971, the height of the nation's harsh 20-year dictatorship, and his father Padilha, a youthful Methodist activist, had been forced to flee his country after enduring 11 months in one of the city's most infamous torture centres.

Smuggled out of the country by a religious organization to avoid execution, he made for Uruguay and Chile before finally escaping in the US. "In America, he was able to experience the liberty he wasn't able to live in Brazil," stated his son, Alexandre Padilha, who was born after his parent left and only met him almost a decade afterward when the political climate in Brazil began to improve.

I'd like to comprehend what threat my young daughter represents to the authorities of the US

Recently, she and her mother were lost their US visas as the US government singled out people associated with Brazil's administration and judiciary as part of unsuccessful efforts to assist former leader Jair Bolsonaro avoid prosecution for orchestrating a recent coup attempt. Recently, the former president was sentenced to decades in prison for the failed power grab.

"I'd like to understand what risk my 10-year-old daughter poses to the government of the United States ... that means she cannot visit the US," remarked Alexandre Padilha, who is the country's top health official and a well-known ally of its leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Speaking in Rio, Padilha denounced the decision to target his child as an "shocking absurdity" and a "political abuse".

Ahead of Bolsonaro's trial, Trump imposed restrictions on Alexandre de Moraes presiding over the case; revoked the visas of eight of the nation's 11 supreme court judges, including the judge; and enacted significant tariffs on Brazilian's goods.

After Bolsonaro's conviction, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, hinted the US would take additional measures against Brazil and "react appropriately to this unjust persecution".

Previously, Rubio announced that the visas of two public servants connected to creating Brazil's Mais Médicos public health initiative had been canceled, purportedly because of the program's use of Cuban doctors. The minister thought he had escaped losing his visa because it had already expired. He has not yet been issued with a visa for the upcoming UN meeting in New York.

The US official asserted the individuals were targeted because the Brazilian program – which has brought healthcare to underserved regions – had helped enrich "the corrupt Cuban regime and deny the Cuban people of essential medical care". But the minister, who said those professionals were not involved in a program he praised with preserving millions of lives, believed that was a pretext.

Actually, the minister argued Trump's decision to target people associated with the program – including, by extension, his daughter – was a example of the US president's two-pronged assault on public health and democratic institutions.

Trump's attempt to coerce Brazil's president into "meddling" in Brazil's court system over the former leader's judgment was an anti-democratic affront. "These actions will intimidate us," Padilha vowed. "Under no circumstances will we give up on defending our democracy".

Meanwhile, the minister contended Trump's focus on the Brazilian healthcare project was a reflection of a politician who had initiated a relentless offensive on public health and research – in the US and around the world – since returning to power.

Attacking global health means attacking the health of your own people too.

"From the start of the Trump administration, they have launched a series of attacks on health in the US and global health," Padilha said, pointing out how Trump had reduced funding for the production of innovative immunizations, sacked the head of the CDC, and purged the leaders of the NIH.

"He has persecuted researchers, slashed funding for universities … and vowed to withdraw from the World Health Organization." "90 percent of the WHO's operations in Africa were paid for with the US's voluntary donation – and this was eliminated," said Padilha, an infectious diseases specialist who wore a white coat celebrating Brazil's public healthcare system, the SUS.

"This will affect Africa, which is deeply concerning in itself, but it will also affect the whole world … Attacking global health means attacking the health of your population too.

"That's why I say we see these measures [against my family] as an stunning absurdity but also as having a clear pattern with the other astonishing actions the leader of the US has undertaken."

The minister said his father was perplexed by the "inconceivable" US decision to penalize his granddaughter. "I never imagined the country that offered me shelter, that saved my life … subjecting my granddaughter so outrageously," he quoted the 85-year-old man as saying.

But the minister expressed optimism that the US's anti-healthcare campaign could prove an opportunity for his country. While the US top health official, a US figure, has reduced investments in mRNA vaccines, the nation was investing significant funds into healthcare institutes, Fiocruz and Butantan, which are making progress with the development of such critical shots.

"Consider relocating to Brazil," was Padilha's message to US-based researchers and biomedical firms who were under the cosh because of the "uncertainty" under Trump.

"It is noteworthy that Brazil has managed to attract an foreign coach to coach the Brazilian football team. Now we're attracting numerous researchers to come and work in Brazil," said Padilha, who said authorities had already observed an increase of researchers from the US.

"The US president has torn up contracts with American companies … and we're going to attract them to invest here in Brazil."

Representatives for the American diplomatic mission in the capital did not respond on why the visas of Padilha's family members had been revoked.