President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday declared Brazil a national security threat and sanctioned the nation’s head judge (equivalent to the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court) over human rights abuses and censorship of conservative viewpoints both at home and abroad.
Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes received sanctions from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under the Global Magnitsky Act because he has engaged in a pattern of arbitrary detentions, denial of fair trial guarantees, censorship, punishing free speech, and other abuses.
De Moraes’s actions were all in the name of persecuting conservative political activity, which is prohibited by the act. Consequently, his U.S.-based assets are frozen, and he is banned from transactions involving U.S.
“Judge and jury”
“Alexandre de Moraes has taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch hunt against U.S. and Brazilian citizens and companies,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said. “De Moraes is responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights, and politicized prosecutions — including against former President Jair Bolsonaro. Today’s action makes clear that Treasury will continue to hold accountable those who threaten U.S. interests and the freedoms of our citizens.”
“Moraes abused his authority by engaging in a targeted and politically motivated effort designed to silence political critics through the issuance of secret orders compelling online platforms, including U.S. social media companies, to ban the accounts of individuals for posting protected speech,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a separate statement. “Moraes further abused his position to authorize unjust pre-trial detentions and undermine freedom of expression.”
Trump probably feels for Bolsonaro because he was in a similar situation to Trump, being declared the loser of an election while believing that he actually won.
Like Trump, Bolsonaro publicly refused to concede and accused his opponents of voter fraud.
No remedy
It’s probably more likely that Bolsonaro’s election was fraudulent than Trump’s, but neither one of them could prove it and both ended up having to accept the loss and transfer power eventually.
De Moraes went after Bolsonaro, his family, and his supporters with travel bans, freezing their assets, police raids, and arrests.
He also censored American social media platforms repeatedly, imposing hefty fines for noncompliance so people couldn’t see the truth and find out he was wrong.
While de Moraes’s actions sound frightfully familiar to how Trump and his allies have been treated, Bolsonaro had no legal remedy against his persecution.
Trump ended up beating all the charges against him, being re-elected by an indignant populace, and being able to pardon all his allies who were unjustly accused of crimes.
The differences highlight the American system’s resilience; our democracy just functions better. Trump’s sanctioning of de Moraes is an attempt to influence Brazil’s government and tell de Moraes he can’t get away with his actions consequence-free.
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Author: Jen Krausz
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