Category Archives: Jair Bolsonaro

Brazil judge eases Jair Bolsonaro house arrest to allow family visits

Posted on by

Ex-president can see children and grandchildren without prior court approval, but phone and video ban remains

A Brazilian supreme court judge has eased the terms of Jair Bolsonaro’s house arrest, allowing the far-right former president to receive visits from family members without prior judicial approval.

The former paratrooper turned populist has been under house arrest since Monday, when Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the measure on the grounds that Bolsonaro had allegedly violated court orders.

Continue reading...

US steps up efforts to help Bolsonaro avoid jail over alleged coup plot

Posted on by

State department condemns judge’s decision to place former Brazil president under house arrest as trial proceeds

The US has intensified its campaign to help Jair Bolsonaro avoid punishment for allegedly masterminding a failed coup, with the state department denouncing the decision to place Brazil’s former president under house arrest.

“Let Bolsonaro speak!” the department’s bureau of western hemisphere affairs tweeted on Monday night after the far-right populist was confined to his mansion in the capital, Brasília, and police seized his mobile phone.

Continue reading...

Brazil judge hits back at ‘cowardly and treasonous’ plot behind US sanctions

Posted on by

US put sanctions on Judge Alexandre de Moraes as an apparent move by Trump to help his ally Jair Bolsonaro

The supreme court judge presiding over the trial of Brazil’s ex-president, Jair Bolsonaro, has said a “cowardly and treacherous” plot is afoot to pave the way for another attack on the South American country’s democracy.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes was put under sanctions by the US on Wednesday, as part of an apparent push by Donald Trump to help his ally Bolsonaro escape punishment for allegedly masterminding an attempted coup after losing the 2022 election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Trump also slapped a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports in response to what he called the “witch-hunt” against the far-right former president.

Continue reading...

‘Classic tinpot dictator’: Trump exports his assault on democracy to Brazil

Posted on by

US president seems to be weaponizing tariffs to punish Brazil for its coup trial against his ally Bolsonaro

Over the past six months, Donald Trump has been accused of rapidly dragging the largest democracy in the Americas towards authoritarianism. Now, the US president seems bent on undermining the region’s second largest democracy too.

Since early July, Trump has launched an extraordinary attack on Brazil’s institutions, slapping 50% tariffs on imports from the South American country and sanctions on a supreme court judge – partly in retribution for what he called the political persecution of his ally, Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly masterminding a failed coup.

Continue reading...

President Lula hits back as Trump tariffs threaten US-Brazil trade showdown

Posted on by

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says he won’t be cowed by Trump ahead of 50% tariffs set to hit Brazil

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has said he does not fear getting on the wrong side of Donald Trump, as South America’s largest economy braces for the introduction of 50% tariffs.

Trump announced plans to slap Brazil with tariffs on 1 August earlier this month, partly in retaliation for a supposed political “witch-hunt” against his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro. The former Brazilian president faces decades in jail for allegedly plotting a military coup to stop Lula from taking office after the former lost the 2022 presidential election.

Continue reading...

Brazil court freezes Bolsonaro son’s assets as Trump’s tariffs appear to backfire

Posted on by

Eduardo Bolsonaro is suspected of using money to lobby US president on behalf of his father, Jair, who faces arrest for apparent flouting of social media ban

A Brazilian supreme court judge has ordered that the bank accounts and assets of Jair Bolsonaro’s congressman son be frozen, as a political crisis – pitting Brazil’s far-right former president and Donald Trump against the current administration – intensified.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes – who has spearheaded a series of supreme court investigations into Bolsonaro – targeted the finances of Eduardo Bolsonaro, the ex-president’s third son, as a result of police suspicions that money being sent to him by his father was bankrolling his efforts to lobby the Trump administration to help Bolsonaro avoid punishment for an alleged coup attempt after the 2022 election.

Continue reading...

Rubio moves to strip US visas from eight Brazilian judges in Bolsonaro battle

Posted on by

Move by Marco Rubio is latest attempt by Trump administration to help former president avoid justice over alleged coup

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has reportedly stripped eight of Brazil’s 11 supreme court judges of their US visas as the White House escalates its campaign to help the country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro avoid justice over his alleged attempt to seize power with a military coup.

Bolsonaro, a far-right populist with ties to Donald Trump’s Maga movement, is on trial for allegedly masterminding a murderous plot to cling to power after losing the 2022 election to his leftwing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro is expected to be convicted by the supreme court in the coming weeks and faces a jail sentence of up to 43 years.

Continue reading...

Bolsonaro ordered to wear ankle tag over fears he may abscond as coup trial nears end

Posted on by

Guilty verdict widely expected for Brazil’s ex-president accused of plot to seize power after losing 2022 election

Federal police have raided Jair Bolsonaro’s Brasília mansion, banned him from communicating with foreign diplomats and ordered him to wear an electronic ankle tag amid fears Brazil’s ex-president may abscond to avoid punishment over an alleged coup attempt.

A supreme court trial examining claims that Bolsonaro masterminded a murderous plot to seize power after losing the 2022 election is expected to reach its conclusion in the coming weeks.

Continue reading...

‘A family of traitors’: Trump’s Brazil tariffs ultimatum backfires on Bolsonaro

Posted on by

US president’s attempt to help his rightwing ally avoid jail has sparked wave of anger and given boost to rival Lula

Silvana Marques was one of thousands of Brazilians who flocked to São Paulo’s most famous art museum one afternoon last week. But the 51-year-old teacher wasn’t there to marvel over fog-filled London landscapes at Masp’s new Monet retrospective. She had come to join a protest heaping scorn on Donald Trump.

Beneath the museum’s brutalist hulk, Marques spotted a cardboard effigy of the US president and took a picture with her phone before the Trump dummy was set on fire. “Laranjão safado,” which translates as big orange dirtbag, she wrote under her photo on Instagram. Nearby, demonstrators hoisted a red banner into the air which read: “Nice try Trump. But we’re not afraid.”

Continue reading...

Enduring confusion is the only certainty amid Trump’s latest tariff threats

Posted on by

Experts suspect ‘frontloading’ of activity may have masked deeper impact of tariffs on the US economy

“There has been no change to this date, and there will be no change,” Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform this week. “All money will be due and payable starting AUGUST 1, 2025 – no extensions will be granted.”

There had, in fact, been a change. The 90-day “pause” on the highest tariffs threatened by Trump on his so-called “liberation day” in April, elapsed on Wednesday. But with just three trade agreements in place, instead of the 300 once promised, the White House had switched one deadline for another.

Continue reading...

Trump announces 50% tariff on Brazil, citing a ‘witch-hunt’ against Bolsonaro

Posted on by

Latest threats heighten fears that the president’s erratic trade strategy risks exacerbating inflation across the US

Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that his administration will hit Brazil with a 50% tariff on products sent to the US, tying the move to what he called the “witch-hunt” trial against its former president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Posting letters on Truth Social, the US president had earlier in the day targeted seven other countries – the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Sri Lanka – for stiff US tariffs on foreign exports starting on 1 August.

Continue reading...

Trump says Bolsonaro ‘not guilty of anything’ amid Brazil coup trial

Posted on by

President Lula rejects foreign ‘interference’ as Trump claims far-right former leader victim of ‘witch-hunt’

Donald Trump has issued his strongest defence to date of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, claiming the far-right leader is the victim of a “witch-hunt” in his home country.

Posting on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday, the US president claimed that Bolsonaro – often dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics” – is “not guilty of anything”, in an apparent reference to the legal cases Bolsonaro is facing in Brazil.

Continue reading...

Bolsonaro wanted to exterminate us, claims Indigenous leader Raoni Metuktire

Posted on by

Kayapó chief tells in memoir of seeing former president in his dreams and of warning Lula not to repeat past mistakes

Brazil’s most revered Indigenous leader, Raoni Metuktire, has said he believes that one of the former president Jair Bolsonaro’s goals while in office was to “exterminate” the country’s Indigenous peoples.

According to the Kayapó chief, the far-right populist “encouraged invasions, mining and deforestation” in order to hand Indigenous lands over to the kubẽ (non-Indigenous people).

Continue reading...

Family of woman who died from Covid after giving birth sues Brazilian state

Posted on by

Exclusive: Lidiane Vieira Frazão, a black woman from Rio, was repeatedly denied appropriate treatment as President Bolsonaro downplayed the pandemic, lawsuit says

In the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, Lidiane Vieira Frazão, 35, was expecting her second child but, even at 40 weeks pregnant, she was unable to obtain a doctor’s note to start her maternity leave.

Her job as a funeral agent – at times handling the bodies of people who had died from the virus – was on the long list of “essential services” that could not be suspended during lockdown, according to a decree issued by Brazil’s then-president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Continue reading...

Bolsonaro denies coup plot but admits discussing ‘alternative ways’ to remain president

Posted on by

Ex-Brazilian president admits in court that after Lula’s win, ‘we studied other alternatives within the constitution’

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has denied masterminding a far-right coup plot at his trial in the supreme court, but he admitted to taking part in meetings to discuss “alternative ways” of staying in power after his defeat in the 2022 election.

In just over two hours of questioning, the 70-year-old said that after the electoral court confirmed Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s election victory, “we studied other alternatives within the constitution.”

Continue reading...

Brazil braces for Bolsonaro’s day in court as ex-president testifies over ‘coup plot’

Posted on by

Rightwinger accused of conspiring against democracy says appearance before supreme court will be ‘worth watching’

Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, will finally find himself in the dock this week, accused of masterminding an armed far-right conspiracy to seize power after losing the 2022 presidential election.

The 70-year-old paratrooper turned populist, who governed from 2019 until 2023, is scheduled to be interrogated by the supreme court as it seeks to untangle what federal police claim was a sprawling three-year plot to vandalize one of the world’s largest democracies.

Continue reading...

Brazilian judges accept coup plot charges against more Bolsonaro allies

Posted on by

Panel unanimously accepts charges against six more key allies of ex-president over alleged plan to keep him in office

A panel of Brazil’s supreme court justices has unanimously accepted criminal charges against six more key allies of former president Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged coup plot to keep him in office after his 2022 election defeat.

Last month, the panel unanimously accepted charges against Bolsonaro and seven close allies over the alleged coup plot following his loss to current president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and ordered the former rightwing leader to stand trial.

Continue reading...

Is coup trial ruling the beginning of the end for Bolsonaro and his supporters?

Posted on by

While many in Brazil delight at the ex president’s predicted downfall, others fear who may follow in his far-right footsteps

There were cries of joy in progressive​ parts of Rio on Wednesday as Brazil’s supreme court ruled that the former president Jair Bolsonaro should stand trial for an alleged coup plot.

“No amnesty! No amnesty!” one elated lefty roared from his balcony into the sunny autumn afternoon.

Continue reading...

Bolsonaro must stand trial over alleged coup attempt, Brazil’s top court rules

Posted on by

Supreme court judges decide former president should face criminal prosecution alongside seven close allies

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro will stand trial for allegedly orchestrating a violent plot to seize power through a military coup, after the country’s supreme court decided he should face criminal prosecution.

The ruling leaves the far-right populist, who governed Brazil from 2019 until the end of 2022, facing political oblivion and a possible jail sentence of more than 40 years.

Continue reading...

Jubilant Brazilians hail I’m Still Here’s Oscar as landmark in fight for justice

Posted on by

Walter Salles’s dictatorship-era movie turns focus on dark time in country’s history and more recent coup attempt

Ahead of the Oscars ceremony, Brazil’s Fernanda Torres – star of Walter Salles’s dictatorship-era movie I’m Still Here – had warned her compatriots not to get into a “World Cup fever” over the Academy Awards.

Her plea went in vain on Sunday night, however, as crowds across the country – already gathered to celebrate carnival – erupted in joy over Brazil’s first-ever Oscar win, for best international feature.

Continue reading...