The White House is closing a new chapter in the history of strained relations with Brazil in recent months. The government of Donald Trump announced this Friday that it was withdrawing sanctions against Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes, investigator of the coup d’état affair which landed former President Jair Bolsonaro in prison. In July, Trump announced that he would punish the judge for the “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro, but five months later the picture has radically changed.
In a brief statement, the Treasury Department announced that Judge Moraes, his wife, Viviane Moraes, and the Lex company, of which both are partners, were leaving the Magnitsky Act list. The memo does not explain the reasons for the decision. Neither other Supreme Court judges nor government ministers who were also sanctioned are mentioned.
The end of the punishment of Moraes, whom the Brazilian far right considers public enemy number one, adds to the failure of the other pillar of the pressure strategy deployed by MP Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of the former president, from the United States: customs duties on the importation of Brazilian products. Trump imposed record tariffs of 50%, but in recent days, after weeks of quiet negotiations, he removed most products from the list, much to the delight of exporting businessmen.
For Moraes and the others 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. Shares of Brazilian banks rose on the stock market after learning of Friday’s ruling, as they had feared for months that any suspicious moves involving contact with the judge could result in a monumental financial penalty.
At the time, the magistrate called his inclusion on the Magnitsky list “illegal and regrettable” and warned that institutional courage and the defense of national sovereignty would prevail, as Brazilian judges would accept neither coercion nor obstruction. The truth is that US pressure did not work: the trial of Bolsonaro and others accused of participating in leading the coup proceeded normally and Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison, which he is serving in a Brasilia police station.
After Trump’s decision, one of the former president’s sons, congressman Eduardo, issued a terse statement in which he admitted receiving the news “with regret,” while thanking the Republican for the attention he devoted “to the serious crisis of freedoms that Brazil is suffering.” For the MP, it is a total personal defeat. In March this year, he moved to the United States to pressure the White House to impose sanctions on Brazil, which he succeeded in doing. What he failed to do was save his father.
Bolsonaro supporters even demonstrated in the streets of Brazil with American flags to ask Trump to tighten the screws more. However, Eduardo Bolsonaro believes that Brazilian society failed 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 carried out abroad have contributed to the worsening of the current situation,” he said.
The White House’s decisions come after several conversations between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Trump, during which they demonstrated chemistry and personal harmony. The Republican 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, did that happen? It’s a shame,” he said quickly.
At the moment, Brazil has gradually scored all the points in the fierce fight 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 United States’ interest in the abundant rare earths of this tropical country has been on the negotiating table.
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