Brazil’s health minister, Alexandre Padilha, said on Friday that he will not attend the United Nations’ General Assembly taking place in New York next week because the United States government gave him “an unacceptable visa” with mobility restrictions within the country.

Padilha, one of the closest aides to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said in a statement that he will continue to stay in Brazil due to “unfounded and arbitrary limitations to Brazil’s diplomatic exercise” from the United States’ government.