Bolsonaro ‘witch-hunt’ sparks US retaliation, judge who ordered ankle monitor faces visa ban

In a statement as reported by AFP, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s political witch hunt against Jair Bolsonaro created a persecution and censorship complex so sweeping that it not only violates basic rights of Brazilians, but also extends beyond Brazil’s shores to target Americans.”

Reacting strongly to the decision to impose visa bans, a senior Brazilian judicial official on Friday said the country’s judiciary “will not be intimidated” by what he described as an arbitrary move.

In an escalation of tensions between US President Donald Trump and the government of Latin America’s largest economy, visa bans were a response to the Supreme Court’s decision to issue search warrants and restraining orders targeting Trump ally Bolsonaro.

Solicitor General Jorge Messias, the top judicial official for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s executive branch, said in a statement posted on X that Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet was also targeted by the ban. “Rest assured that no improper manoeuvre or sordid conspiratorial act will intimidate our country’s judiciary in the independent and dignified exercise of its task,” he added.

According to Reuters, Messias said the Brazilian officials were subject to “arbitrary acts of visa revocation by a foreign nation on account of their fulfilment of their legitimate institutional responsibilities in accordance with constitutional terms.”

In addition to Moraes, seven other justices from Brazil’s 11-member Supreme Court were also hit by the US visa restrictions, government institutional relations minister Gleisi Hoffmann said on Friday. They include justices Luís Roberto Barroso, Dias Toffoli, Cristiano Zanin, Flávio Dino, Cármen Lúcia, Edson Fachin, and Gilmar Mendes.

Trump has criticised the proceedings against Bolsonaro as a “witch-hunt”, a term he has used to describe his own treatment by political opponents, and has called for the charges to be dropped. In a letter last week, he announced a 50 per cent tariff on Brazilian goods starting August 1, opening the message with criticism of the trial.

Bolsonaro is on trial before Brazil’s Supreme Court on charges of plotting a coup to stop Lula from taking office in January 2023. Bolsonaro has denied that he led an attempt to overthrow the government but has acknowledged taking part in meetings aimed at reversing the election’s outcome.