(AFP) – The US Treasury Department lifted sanctions Friday on Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw a trial of his country’s jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro. The sanctions were part of a series of punitive actions taken against Brazil by the administration of President Donald Trump, a longtime ally of Bolsonaro who had slammed the trial as a “witch hunt.”
Moraes was sanctioned in July, and Washington took aim at his wife Viviane Barci de Moraes a few months later. The sanctions against the couple and a company linked to their family were eased after efforts to repair diplomatic ties between Brazil and the US, in a blow to Bolsonaro and his family who had lobbied hard for the measures. A senior official from Trump’s administration told AFP that “continued designation is inconsistent with US foreign policy interests.”
After months of animosity, Trump and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held their first official meeting in October, leading to a flurry of negotiations between diplomats. As ties improved, the Trump administration last month exempted key Brazilian exports from a 40-percent tariff that had been imposed over the trial.
Ties between the US and Brazil had soured even before the Bolsonaro trial, as Moraes oversaw efforts to regulate social media platforms and temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s X platform and social media accounts popular with conservative voices. In imposing the sanctions earlier this year, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Moraes had “taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch hunt against US and Brazilian citizens and companies.”
Bolsonaro began serving a 27-year jail term in November after his conviction for a scheme to stop Lula from taking office after the 2022 elections. His son Eduardo, a federal lawmaker, moved to the United States earlier this year after months of jetting back and forth from Brazil to lobby for sanctions against judicial officials. He has since been charged for the crime of “coercion” for his alleged efforts to sway the outcome of the coup trial against his father.
In a statement on social media, Eduardo said the decision to lift the sanctions on Moraes was received “with regret.” He said a “lack of internal cohesion and the insufficient support for initiatives conducted abroad contributed to the worsening of the current situation.”
“We are grateful for the support that President Trump has shown throughout this journey and for the attention he dedicated to the serious crisis of freedoms afflicting Brazil.” On Friday, the senior Trump administration official welcomed the passing of a bill by Brazil’s chamber of deputies—which is dominated by Bolsonaro supporters—that could slash the former president’s prison sentence considerably.
© 2024 AFP
