(AFP) – Brazil said on Tuesday that the United States had revoked the US visa of the country’s justice minister, the latest official to be punished by Washington over the coup trial of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. The US State Department has yet to confirm the measure, which was announced by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at a cabinet meeting.
“I wanted to express my solidarity and the government’s solidarity with my colleague (Ricardo) Lewandowski faced with the irresponsible gesture of the United States in revoking his visa,” Lula said. President Donald Trump has also imposed crippling 50-percent tariffs on dozens of Brazilian imports and sanctioned the judge overseeing Bolsonaro’s trial, which he has called a “witch hunt.”
Judge Alexandre de Moraes, a hate figure for the Brazilian and US right, also had his US visa revoked, as did several other Supreme Court justices, according to Brazil. “These attitudes are unacceptable, not only against the minister but against all Supreme Court justices, against any Brazilian figure,” Lula told the meeting. In a sign of protest, he and several of his ministers wore caps inscribed “Brazil belongs to Brazilians.”
The US sanctions followed intense lobbying of the Trump administration by Bolsonaro’s US-based son, Eduardo Bolsonaro. Lula called the younger Bolsonaro’s campaign of retribution “one of the worst betrayals the country has suffered.”
Jair Bolsonaro, dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics” during his 2019-2022 presidency, risks up to 40 years in prison if convicted of plotting to cling to power after losing October 2022 elections to the leftist Lula. The 70-year-old denies the charges and claims his trial is an attempt by the Brazilian judiciary, in league with Lula’s government, to prevent him making a comeback in 2026 elections.
He is under house arrest while awaiting the verdict, which the Supreme Court is expected to deliver early next month. On Monday, prosecutors called for increased police surveillance of his residence in the run-up to the verdict, arguing he is a flight risk.
Last week, it emerged that Bolsonaro had planned to seek asylum from Argentina’s right-wing President Javier Milei last year, shortly after the coup plot probe was launched. In his draft asylum request, he claimed he was the victim of political persecution.
– Louis GENOT
© 2024 AFP
