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Brazil’s Supreme Court placed far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro under house arrest Monday in anticipation of his trial for allegedly attempting a coup following his loss in the 2022 election.
The order has heightened the current government’s already simmering tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has imposed high tariffs on some Brazilian imports over what he calls a “witch hunt” against his ally.
Bolsonaro’s house arrest was ordered by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who says the former president had violated restrictions imposed last month banning him from using social media, which he’d been using to rile up supporters to attack the Supreme Court.
The justice said Bolsonaro had used the accounts of allies, including his politician sons, to send “clear encouragement and incitement to attack the Supreme Federal Court, and overt support for foreign intervention in Brazil’s judiciary.”
The Associated Press reports that Bolsonaro had his phones seized from his Brasilia residence.
Trump slapped Moraes, who is presiding over Bolsonaro’s trial, with Magnitsky sanctions — typically reserved for major human rights abusers — last week, which supporters of Brazil’s left-wing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called “a direct attack on Brazilian democracy.”
Brazilian journalist Brian Mier says Bolsonaro has been emboldened by Trump’s support to defy Moraes’ orders, assuming that threats from the U.S. would cause the judge “to back down.”
“It backfired,” Mier said.
The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs issued a furious condemnation of Bolsonaro’s arrest, promising to “hold accountable all those aiding and abetting sanctioned conduct.”
The department hinted that it may place more sanctions on other members of the Supreme Court.
Maria do Rosário, a federal deputy for Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT), hit back in a post on X.
“With what authority does this attempt to interfere in Brazil’s judiciary power, and the threat to Brazilian authorities and citizens persist?” she asked. “None.”
The charges against Bolsonaro, often called the “Trump of the tropics,” bear a striking resemblance to those leveled against the U.S. president following his 2020 election loss.
Like Trump, Bolsonaro flagrantly spread false claims that his election loss was the result of rampant fraud, which prompted a mob of supporters to attack the legislature in hopes of overturning the “stolen” election.
Brazilian state police have accused Bolsonaro of going even further — allegedly enlisting military officers in a plot to assassinate Lula and forcibly retake power.
Trump has nevertheless drawn parallels between his own legal struggles and those faced by Bolsonaro.
“This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent – Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10,” Trump wrote last month on Truth Social.
Vinicios Betiol, a geopolitics scholar from the University of Rio de Janeiro, says that “Bolsonaro and Donald Trump are plotting a coup against Brazil.”
While he said the arrest of Bolsonaro is worth celebrating, he cautioned that provoking the Supreme Court was part of his strategy “to fuel the narrative of persecution” and whip up civil unrest among his supporters.
“Radical Bolsonarists,” he said, “are already talking about blocking roads, toppling power towers, and attacking the [Supreme Court].”
Following the announcement of Bolsonaro’s arrest, supporters of the former president flooded the streets and drove around the capital Brasilia, with some chanting, “Brazil will stop.”
Many of Bolsonaro’s supporters view Trump as a key cog in the effort to shield Bolsonaro from prosecution. As The Guardian reports:
On Monday night, hundreds of followers flocked to the gates of Bolsonaro’s upmarket condominium to vent their anger, some carrying U.S. flags.
“We want Trump to help us,” said one protester, Ricardo, who wore a red MAGA cap and declined to give his second name as he stood outside Bolsonaro’s compound holding up a star-spangled banner. “Our solution can no longer come from within [Brazil]. It has to come from abroad. The sanctions are working. More people need to be hit with Magnitsky.”
“They know that Bolsonaro will be convicted and have thus gone all-in,” Betiol said. “They are willing to cause civil unrest, force the [Supreme Court] to act, and then seek a coup with Trump’s help.”
“We must indeed celebrate Bolsonaro’s arrest,” he continued, “but we cannot lower our guard at this decisive moment in our country’s history.”
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