An opinion article published in the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) This Sunday (10), which is among the most popular in the journal, said that the Supreme Court (STF) and Minister Alexandre de Moraes currently promote a “coup of state” against democracy in Brazil. Signed by columnist Mary Anastasia O’Grady, the text makes criticism of Moraes, citing that the minister has censored opponents, ordained arrests and conducted secret inquiries without any institutional control.
The article compares the Brazilian situation to the strategies of “21st century dictators”, which, according to the text, do not take power by military blows, but “copy Hugo Chavez, consolidating control over democratic institutions while they are popular, then arresting opponents or force them to exile.”
For the WSJthe way for a dictatorship in Brazil began in 2019, when the Supreme Court claimed to be threatened and opened the so -called “fake news inquiry”, in which he acted as the accuser, investigator and judge. “Moraes was chosen without a draw, began to watch social networks, criminalize opinions and arrest preventively critical of the Court,” says the article.
The minister’s performance at the head of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) during the 2022 presidential elections was also criticized.
“The court became remarkably more political, monitoring the speech of parties, candidates and citizens, and censoring those with whom it disagreed,” says the text.
The article also questioned the conduct of investigations into acts of January 8, 2023.
“About 1,500 suspects were arrested, some held up to a year awaiting trial, receiving severe sentences for smaller transgressions,” says the article, adding that while leftist violence is treated with “understanding”, opponents of the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva face “iron hand”.
The article also recalled that in March 2021, the STF annulled the conviction for corruption of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, confirmed in two instances, a fact that “inflamed the Brazilian right.” The text states that, from then on, the court “tried to silence” opponents, but “some popular influencers were outside the country and beyond the reach” of the ministers. The article cites that in July of that year, the so -called “digital militias inquiry” was opened, which, according to the WSJmeasuring US technology companies and their platforms, “forcing them to censor content and dismantle Brazilians who defended opinions considered unacceptable” by the Supreme Court, otherwise they can no longer operate in the country.
The publicane in the WSJ It concludes by stating that “regardless of what one thinks about Jair Bolsonaro, it is evident that politics has taken over the Supreme.” The article mentioned that right -wing senators move at this time to try to open an impeachment process against Moraes to “restore judicial impartiality”. According to the text, even members of the Brazilian elite are already complaining about what they classified as “drunk ministers.” The article points out that the 50% rates applied by President Donald Trump to Brazilian imports have strengthened nationalism and support to Lula, but that the recent decision of the US Treasury Department of sanctioning Moraes under magnitsky law “seems to have attracted the attention of other court ministers, who certainly understand that new measures may come if Brazil does not restore the rule of law.”
