According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Washington will restrict access to Brazilian justice officials and their immediate families due to what he called a “political witch-hunt” against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.
Rubio accused Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes of starting a “persecution and censorship complex” that “violates Brazilian fundamental rights and extends beyond Brazil’s borders to target Americans.”
Without providing further information on who would be subject to the measures, Moraes and his allies on the court, as well as their immediate family members, were given the order to immediately have their visas revoked, he said.
The US has revoked visas from seven more Brazilian Supreme Court justices, according to Brazilian newspaper O Globo, without citing its source. The only Supreme Court judges who are unaffected, if they are accurate, would be Judge Luiz Fux and Justices Mendonca and Nunes Marques, both of whom were appointed by Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro was barred from speaking with foreign officials by Brazil’s Supreme Court on Friday after it was claimed he courted US President Donald Trump over his interference in court proceedings against him. The US followed suit by Brazil’s Supreme Court, which on Friday issued search warrants and restraining orders against him.
In a statement, Moraes claimed Bolsonaro, who served as president from 2019 to 2023, had attacked Brazil’s sovereignty by encouraging the interference of the “head of state of a foreign nation” in its courts.
Bolsonaro’s trial is centered on allegations that he plotted a coup to overthrow current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s victory in the 2023 election. Bolsonaro could spend decades in prison if found guilty of other charges, including the coup charge, which is punishable by a 12-year sentence.
Bolsonaro is now prohibited from contacting foreign officials, contacting embassies, or using social media to communicate with him. Additionally, it was forbidden to speak with important allies, including Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian congressman who was trying to win his father’s support in Washington.
Following Moraes’ ruling that there is a “concrete possibility” that he will attempt to flee the country, federal police also raided Bolsonaro’s residence and headquarters.
Bolsonaro is known as the “Trump of the Tropics.”
Moraes was called a “dictator” by Bolsonaro in a statement to the Reuters news agency on Friday, and he also described the court’s actions as “cowardice.”
When asked about wearing an ankle monitor, he responded, “I feel absolutely humiliated.” “I am 70 years old. He continued, “I served as the republic’s president for four years.
A five-judge panel of Supreme Court judges upheld Moraes’ decision on Friday afternoon.
Bolsonaro added that he thought the court’s orders were a response to Trump’s criticism of his trial, which is the most recent indication that Washington’s interventions may be causing harm rather than good to the former president.
Bolsonaro said he would meet with Trump if his passport, which was taken by police last year, was returned, despite saying he denied that he intended to leave.
White House spokesman Anna Kelly said Bolsonaro and his supporters are “under attack from a weaponized court system” when questioned about his most recent remarks.
Since the US leader’s first term, from 2017 to 2021, Trump has remained close to ideological ally Bolsonaro, also known as the “Trump of the Tropics.”
Trump lamented the “terrible treatment” of the criticized former president by an “unjust system turned against you” in a letter he sent to Bolsonaro on Truth Social on Thursday.
Trump also threatened earlier this month to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods starting August 1 by calling on Lula’s government to abandon Bolsonaro’s charges.
According to Lula, “any measure to increase tariffs unilaterally will be responded to in accordance with Brazil’s Law of Economic Reciprocity.”
In addition to putting Trump’s threatened tariffs in the country’s judicial system in the court’s decision, Moraes also claimed that the move was intended to cause a grave economic crisis in Brazil.
Source: Aljazeera
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