Rubio vows US response following conviction of Brazil’s Bolsonaro
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US will respond accordingly.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sept 11 said the US would respond, without specifying how, after former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup
“The political persecutions by sanctioned human rights abuser Alexandre de Moraes continue, as he and others on Brazil’s Supreme Court have unjustly ruled to imprison former president Jair Bolsonaro,” Mr Rubio wrote on X. “The United States will respond accordingly to this witch hunt,” he said.
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry called Mr Rubio’s comment a threat that “attacks Brazilian authority and ignores the facts and the compelling evidence in the records”.
The ministry said Brazilian democracy would not be intimidated by the US.
Bolsonaro, who had close ties to US President Donald Trump during his first term in the White House, became the first former president in Brazilian history to be convicted of attacking democracy after a majority of five justices on Brazil’s Supreme Court voted to convict him on Sept 11. He was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison.
“Well, I watched that trial. I know him pretty well – foreign leader. I thought he was a good president of Brazil, and it’s very surprising that could happen very much like they tried to do with me, but they didn’t get away with it at all,” Mr Trump told reporters when asked about Bolsonaro being found guilty and if that means additional sanctions.
“But I can always say this: I knew him as president of Brazil. He was a good man, and I don’t see that happening.”
Mr Trump, who also faced a variety of criminal charges and ultimately became the first former US president convicted of a crime in 2024, has criticised the Brazilian judicial system and threatened tariffs on the South American country for its persecution of Bolsonaro.
In July, he imposed 50 per cent tariffs on most Brazilian goods to fight what he has called a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro. He later exempted some Brazilian exports, including passenger vehicles and a large number of parts and components used in civil aircraft.
That same month, the US Treasury Department sanctioned the Brazilian Supreme Court’s Justice Moraes, who presided over Bolsonaro’s criminal case, accusing him of authorising arbitrary pre-trial detentions and suppressing freedom of expression. REUTERS
