{"id":1812,"date":"2025-07-19T06:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T06:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/19\/us-restricts-visas-for-brazilian-officials-over-bolsonaro-witch-hunt\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T06:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T06:50:11","slug":"us-restricts-visas-for-brazilian-officials-over-bolsonaro-witch-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/07\/19\/us-restricts-visas-for-brazilian-officials-over-bolsonaro-witch-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"US restricts visas for Brazilian officials over Bolsonaro \u2018witch-hunt\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accuses Brazilian Supreme Court judge of creating a \u2018persecution, censorship complex\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Washington will restrict travel visas for Brazilian judicial officials and their immediate family members, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced, over what he called a \u201cpolitical witch-hunt\u201d against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.<\/p>\n

Announcing the move on Friday, Rubio accused Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes of creating a sweeping \u201cpersecution and censorship complex\u201d that not only \u201cviolates basic rights of Brazilians, but also extends beyond Brazil\u2019s shores to target Americans\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have therefore ordered visa revocations for Moraes and his allies on the court, as well as their immediate family members, effective immediately,\u201d he said, without providing further details on who would be subject to the measures.<\/p>\n

Brazilian newspaper O Globo also reported on Friday, without citing its source, that the US has revoked visas from seven more justices of Brazil\u2019s Supreme Court. If accurate, the only Supreme Court judges not impacted would be Bolsonaro-appointed justices Andre Mendonca and Nunes Marques, and Judge Luiz Fux.<\/p>\n

The move by the US comes after Brazil\u2019s Supreme Court issued search warrants and restraining orders against Bolsonaro<\/a> on Friday, banning him from contacting foreign officials amid allegations he courted US President Donald Trump\u2019s interference in court cases against him.<\/p>\n

Explaining his decision, Moraes accused Bolsonaro \u2013 who was president from 2019 to 2023 \u2013 of attacking Brazil\u2019s sovereignty by encouraging the interference of the \u201chead of state of a foreign nation\u201d in its courts.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro\u2019s ongoing trial relates to charges he attempted to carry out a coup<\/a> and overturn current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva\u2019s election victory in January 2023. The coup charges carry a 12-year sentence, and if convicted on other counts, Bolsonaro could spend decades behind bars.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro is now banned from contacting foreign officials, using social media or approaching embassies. He was also prohibited from contacting key allies, including his son Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian congressman working to drum up support for his father in Washington.<\/p>\n

Federal police also raided Bolsonaro\u2019s home and headquarters, with authorities ordering him to wear an ankle monitor following Moraes\u2019s ruling that there is a \u201cconcrete possibility\u201d he will attempt to flee the country.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro: \u2018Trump of the Tropics\u2019<\/h2>\n

Speaking to the Reuters news agency at his party\u2019s headquarters on Friday, Bolsonaro called Moraes a \u201cdictator\u201d and described the court orders as acts of \u201ccowardice\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel supreme humiliation,\u201d he said when asked about wearing the ankle monitor. \u201cI am 70 years old. I was president of the republic for four years,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

On Friday afternoon, a five-judge panel of Supreme Court judges reviewed and upheld Moraes\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro also said he believed the court orders were a reaction to Trump\u2019s criticism of his trial, in the latest indication that Washington\u2019s interventions may be harming rather than helping the former president.<\/p>\n

While Bolsonaro denied he planned to leave the country, he also said he would meet with Trump if his passport, seized by police last year, was returned.<\/p>\n

When asked about Bolsonaro\u2019s latest comments, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the former Brazilian leader and his supporters are \u201cunder attack from a weaponised court system\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump has maintained friendly ties with ideological ally Bolsonaro \u2013 known as the \u201cTrump of the Tropics\u201d \u2013 since the US leader\u2019s first term from 2017 to 2021.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Trump shared a letter on Truth Social he had sent to Bolsonaro lamenting the embattled former president\u2019s \u201cterrible treatment\u201d at the hands of an \u201cunjust system turned against you\u201d.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Trump also threatened to impose a 50 percent tariff<\/a> on Brazilian goods starting August 1, as he called for Lula\u2019s government to drop the charges against Bolsonaro.<\/p>\n

Lula promised to reciprocate, saying \u201cany measure to increase tariffs unilaterally will be responded to in light of Brazil\u2019s Law of Economic Reciprocity\u201d.<\/p>\n

In Friday\u2019s court decision, Moraes also said Trump\u2019s threatened tariffs were an attempt to interfere in the country\u2019s judicial system by creating a serious economic crisis in Brazil.<\/p>\n

The tariffs \u2013 which would hurt key Brazilian sectors like coffee farming, cattle ranching and aviation \u2013 have rallied public support behind Lula\u2019s defiant leftist government.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Source: <\/p>\n

Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accuses Brazilian Supreme Court judge of creating a \u2018persecution, censorship complex\u2019. Washington will restrict travel visas for Brazilian judicial officials and their immediate family members, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced, over what he called a \u201cpolitical witch-hunt\u201d against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Announcing the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}