Credit, Reproduction
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- author, Victor Tavares
- To roll, From BBC News Brasil in São Paulo
The removal of the name of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), from the list of people sanctioned by the Magnitsky law had repercussions in the international press this Friday (12/12). His wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes, is also no longer sanctioned.
The British newspaper Financial Times (FT) recalled that it was Moraes who oversaw the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, now convicted and imprisoned for attempted coup, and called Friday’s news “Washington’s latest initiative to rebuild bridges with Brazil.”
The FT points out that the move helps pave the way for a warming of relations between the United States and Brazil after the crisis earlier this year, when President Donald Trump tried to force Brazil to drop the case against Bolsonaro, calling it a “witch hunt”.
Regarding Lula, the British press said the president “rejected pressure”, saying he would not allow his country to be dictated to from outside and that he wanted the independent judiciary to be respected.
The Argentine news portal Infobae also pointed out that the exclusion of Moraes and his family from the Magnitsky list comes after a diplomatic rapprochement between the Trump administration and the Lula government.
“For months, the presence of Moraes and his family on the Magnitsky list meant the cancellation of credit cards, freezing of assets and restrictions on international financial operations,” Infobae pointed out.
The British newspaper The Guardian pointed out that this measure had been requested “repeatedly” by Lula during negotiations with Trump to revoke the 50% customs duties on Brazilian imports.
“The decision is a major setback for Bolsonaro and his son, MP Eduardo Bolsonaro, who left his post in Brazil to pressure Washington for punitive measures against what he called ‘persecution’ against his father,” the Guardian noted.
The American news agency Bloomberg also recalled that the suspension of sanctions comes after Trump relaxed the customs duties that he had applied to Brazilian exports, also with the aim of putting pressure on and helping Bolsonaro.
The Reuters news agency also contextualized the fact that “Trump had accused Moraes of using the judiciary as a weapon, authorizing arbitrary pretrial detentions and suppressing freedom of expression.” But he is now free from all sanctions.
The American newspaper Washington Post picked up the news from the Associated Press (AP), also emphasizing that Moraes was leading the trial against former President Bolsonaro.
The AP contextualizes the fact that Bolsonaro was found guilty of hatching a plan to stay in power despite losing the 2022 election to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — charges similar to those Trump faced after a mob of his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in 2021.
The Financial Times also mentions the role played by Eduardo Bolsonaro in the United States in the attempt to impose sanctions against Brazil, emphasizing that he “received the news with regret.”
Understand the case
Credit, Mateus Bonomi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The Trump administration’s decision to remove Moraes and his family from Magnitsky targets was published on the US Treasury website.
This decision represents a further de-escalation of tensions between the United States and Brazil, following the arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
Approved during the Barack Obama administration in 2012, the Magnitsky Act is one of the toughest laws Washington has to punish foreigners it considers to be perpetrators of serious human rights violations and corrupt practices.
The sanctions against Alexandre de Moraes were imposed in July, under pressure from the Donald Trump government to try to influence Bolsonaro’s trial for attempted coup.
In September, the former president was sentenced by the STF to 27 years and three months in prison for coup d’état and four other crimes, a sentence he began serving in November.
Viviane Barci de Moraes was, in turn, the target of sanctions under the Magnitiski law in September. At the time, Lex – Institute of Legal Studies, a company run by Viviane and the couple’s three children: Gabriela, Alexandre and Giuliana Barci de Moraes, based in São Paulo, had also been sanctioned.
This Friday, the institute was also removed from the sanctions list.
Federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), who collaborated with the US government to impose sanctions on Brazil and Moraes, regretted this decision.
“We received with regret the news of the latest decision announced by the American government. We appreciate the support shown by President Trump throughout this process and the attention he has devoted to the serious crisis of freedoms affecting Brazil,” wrote Eduardo, in a note published in X.
In November, the STF named Eduardo Bolsonaro as a defendant for coercion during the process, for formulating sanctions against Brazil and Brazilian authorities, with the aim of influencing his father’s trial. He denies having committed any crime.
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