The advancement of the bill that reduces the sentences of those convicted of the January 8 attacks and the coup plot in the Chamber of Deputies this week was a decisive factor for the Trump administration to remove Minister Alexandre de Moraes, from the Federal Supreme Court (STF), his wife Viviane Barci de Moraes and the Lex Institute, linked to the minister’s family, from the list of people sanctioned by the Magnitsky Act, according to American government sources.
A government official told GLOBO that the text’s advancement in the House was seen by the US State Department as a step in the right direction that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s interlocutors said would signal that the so-called lawfare situation – the name given to the use of judicial power as a weapon of political persecution – in Brazil is improving.
The bill is described by members of the American government as an “amnesty law”, even if it does not actually provide for the elimination of sanctions.
Additionally, members of the Trump administration say that keeping Moraes and his wife on the sanctions list would be inconsistent with U.S. foreign policy interests.
The Brazilian judiciary’s alleged persecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro is the main argument used by Trump and Rubio to justify the sanctions against Moraes and his wife as well as the 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports to the United States.
Despite the rhetoric, the application of sanctions in Brazil is controversial, since Moraes is not accused of corruption and his decisions are approved by the STF in a democratic regime. Furthermore, Brazil is considered a democracy with an independent judiciary by major international academic projects on comparative democracy, such as that of the American organization Freedom House and V-Dem.
However, officially the statement on the removal of sanctioned persons was issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury Department and does not describe the reasons why Moraes and his wife were removed from the list of sanctioned persons.
This decision by the Trump administration comes in a context of tense relations between the Republican government and that of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Brazil had already requested, during conversations between Lula and Trump and between Brazilian Chancellor Mauro Vieira and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, an end to sanctions against the Brazilian authorities.
Moraes was included in Magnitsky’s list of those sanctioned in July, the same day Trump formalized 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports. The motivation given at the time was the minister’s role in criminal prosecutions linked to the coup plot that later sentenced former President Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison. The minister was accused by the Trump government of promoting a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro.
Moraes was the first Brazilian directly sanctioned by Magnitsky, which imposes economic restrictions, such as blocking bank accounts and assets on American soil, and having his credit cards canceled in Brazil. On September 22, the U.S. government announced the inclusion of Viviane Barci de Moraes and Lex Company, the three children of Viviane and Moraes.
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