The White House closes another chapter in the history of tense relations with Brazil in recent months. The Government of Donald Trump announced this Friday that it is withdrawing sanctions against Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes, investigator of the coup case that has led former president Jair Bolsonaro to prison. In July, Trump announced that he would punish the judge for “the witch hunt” against Bolsonaro, but five months later the panorama has changed radically.
In a brief statement, the Treasury Department announced that Judge Moraes, his wife, Viviane Moraes, and the company Lex, of which both are partners, were leaving the Magnitsky law list. The note does not explain the reasons behind the decision. Neither are the other Supreme Court judges nor the Government ministers who were also punished with sanctions mentioned.
Judge Moraes has publicly thanked the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for his efforts. And he congratulated himself because finally “truth and Brazilian justice have prevailed.” At the same event, the president revealed that he spoke with Trump about the sanctions in the conversation between the two last week: ‘Is it good for you?’, he asked me. ‘It’s not good for me,’ I said. ‘It’s good for Brazilian democracy.’
The end of the punishment of Moraes, who the Brazilian extreme right considers public enemy number one, adds to the failure of the other pillar in the pressure strategy deployed by Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of the former president, from the United States: tariffs on the import of Brazilian products. Trump imposed record tariffs of 50%, but in recent days, after weeks of discreet negotiations, he removed most products from the list, to the joy of exporting businessmen.
For Moraes and the rest of those sanctioned, the law meant above all an economic siege: the blocking of accounts and assets they had in the United States and the impossibility of carrying out transactions with the main credit cards, which are American. The shares of Brazilian banks rose on the stock market after learning of this Friday’s decision, because they have spent months fearing that any suspicious movement involving contact with the judge would entail a monumental financial penalty.
At the time, the magistrate described his inclusion on the Magnitsky list as “illegal and regrettable” and warned that institutional courage and the defense of national sovereignty would prevail, because Brazilian judges were not going to accept coercion or obstructions. The truth is that the pressure from the US did not work: the trial of Bolsonaro and the rest of those accused of being part of the coup leadership was held normally and Bolsonaro ended up sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison, which he is serving in a police station in Brasilia.
After Trump’s decision, one of the former president’s sons, Eduardo, a congressman, released a laconic statement in which he confessed to receiving the news “with regret,” but still thanked the Republican for the attention he devoted “to the serious crisis of freedoms that Brazil is suffering.” For the deputy it is a complete personal defeat. In March of this year he settled in the United States to pressure the White House to impose sanctions on Brazil, which he succeeded in doing. What he did not succeed in was saving his father.
Bolsonaro’s supporters even demonstrated in the streets of Brazil with US flags asking Trump to tighten the screws more. However, Eduardo Bolsonaro believes that Brazilian society did not know how to take advantage of “the window of opportunity that it had in its hands” and blamed its own people: “The lack of internal cohesion and insufficient support for initiatives conducted abroad contributed to the worsening of the current situation,” he said.
The White House decisions come after several conversations between the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Trump, in which they have shown chemistry and personal harmony. The Republican has praised the veteran leftist on several occasions, but when asked about the arrest of Bolsonaro, who was his unconditional ally, he did not show much indignation. “I don’t know anything, has that happened? It’s a shame,” he said quickly.
For the moment, Brazil has been gradually scoring all the points in the tug-of-war with the United States that began in July, but it is expected that at some point the counterparts will arrive. It is known, for example, that the US interest in the tropical country’s abundant rare earths has been on the negotiating tables.
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