Big newspapers and agencies around the world are highlighting the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro (on charges on an alleged coup attempt after the 2022 election), which begins at the Supreme Court (STF) on Tuesday (2).
Most mentioned the decisions of the government of US President Donald Trump, related to the case, such as the 50% rate on the importation of Brazilian products, the revocation of visas of STF ministers and the imposition of economic sanctions, via Magnitsky Law, Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the process.
“The case gained global attention after US President Donald Trump denounced him as a ‘witch hunt’ against his ally and retaliated by imposing a 50% tariff on many Brazilian products,” the British agency Reuters wrote.
The French newspaper Le Monde was in the same line. “Judgment created a profound division between [o presidente Luiz Inácio] Lula [da Silva] and US President Donald Trump, who criticized his ally Bolsonaro’s indictment as a ‘witch hunt’ and punished those responsible for putting him on the defendants’ bench, ”said the journal, in reference to Washington measures against Moraes and other STF judges.
The American newspaper The New York Times published a major report on the trial and interviewed Bolsonaro supporters that they positioned themselves in front of the former president’s residence in Brasilia.
“With their eyes closed, they asked for a miracle to save Bolsonaro. For many there, this miracle is the United States, said Ana Vasconcelos, a 63-year-old retired civil servant.” If Trump really helps us, things will work, “she said.” Many people have a lot of hope, “the New York newspaper reported.
The Washington Post was on a similar line to the English magazine The Economist, which last week, in a cover article, said Bolsonaro’s trial “offers the United States a lesson of democratic maturity.”
“Since its foundation, the spectrum of authoritarianism hangs over Brazil. The country has suffered more than a dozen coup attempts and spent decades under dictatorships. But no one in Brazilian history – neither general nor political – has never been tried in a court for subverting the will of the people. So far,” said Washington Post, which claimed that “Brazil confronts Trump and its authoritarian past.”
The Argentine newspaper La Nacion highlighted the promise made over the weekend by the governor of Sao Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas (Republicans), that his first act of government will be pardon to Bolsonaro if he is elected president in 2026.
“Freitas has already defended forgiveness to Bolsonaro at events with businessmen, farmers and bankers. In fact, he believes that any new center-right president would give Bolsonaro forgiveness for being ‘a pacification factor’,” La Nacion said.
