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Brazil's top court orders ankle monitor for ex-President Jair Bolsonaro after obstruction claims
The former president is also prohibited from communicating with foreign diplomats and getting close to embassies where he could seek shelter.
Brazil’s Supreme Court sent police to raid the home of former President Jair Bolsonaro and to attach a monitor to his ankle just hours after Donald Trump piled pressure on the South American nation to drop criminal charges against his right-wing ally.
Bolsonaro, who is about to stand trial over an alleged coup attempt, was banned from using social media and will now face an evening curfew, according to a Supreme Court order issued on Friday. The former president is also prohibited from communicating with foreign diplomats and getting close to embassies where he could seek shelter.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who authored the decision, cited obstruction of justice and a flight risk as motives for the measures. Police found over $14,000 in cash in the former president’s home in Brasilia and seized his smartphone, newspaper Folha de S Paulo reported.
“That’s a supreme humiliation,” Bolsonaro said of the ankle bracelet, refusing to show it during an interview with Reuters. “I’m 70 years old, I’ve been president of the Republic for four years and there’s not even one corruption allegation against my government.”
His legal team said in a statement that it received word of the measures “with surprise and indignation,” adding that the former president “has always complied with all rulings issued by the judiciary.”
The top court’s move is the latest escalation in a high-stakes standoff between the governments of the Western hemisphere’s most populous nations. Last week, Trump threatened President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with a 50% levy on Brazilian goods due to the treatment of Bolsonaro and what he claims are unfair trade practices.
Brazil’s currency, the real, gained 0.2% in late morning trading after initially falling as much as 0.4% on open. It erased losses after a member of Bolsonaro’s family called on Trump to drop his tariff threat.
While Trump has fired off a flurry of tariff letters to leaders around the world in recent days, Brazil’s case has been unique. Latin America’s largest economy runs a trade deficit with the US, while almost all of Trump’s other targets post large surpluses. Its 79-year-old president has shown no signs of heeding to American demands.
Lula, as the former union leader is universally known, has seized the moment to reinvigorate his progressive base after flagging in opinion polls. He has appeared on Brazil’s airwaves almost daily, accusing his adversaries of seeking foreign intervention and vowing to defend national sovereignty.
“We don’t want to fight, but we don’t flee,” Lula said on Thursday while he visited the northeastern state of Bahia. “Brazil only has one owner: the Brazilian people.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s threats have created chaos for Brazilian conservatives as they seek to find an answer to the upheaval US levies will cause. Even Bolsonaro’s closest confidants have begun to buckle as pressure mounts at home and abroad.
Following the Friday morning raid, the former president’s son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, made an appeal to Trump on social media to “suspend the 50% tariff on Brazilian imports and impose individual sanctions” instead. The post was later deleted.
Further complicating prospects for right-wing parties in Brazil, Bolsonaro said he’s not considering to endorse anyone for next year’s presidential election despite being banned from holding public office.
“Lula, without me in the election, beats any other candidate,” he told Reuters. “He has the government’s power in his hands and uses it, without caring about the consequences.”
Deeply Personal
The clash with the US has become personal for Lula, who narrowly defeated Bolsonaro less than three years ago. Days after Lula’s 2023 inauguration, Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed the capital, Brasilia, and ransacked government buildings under the false belief the election had been stolen.
Bolsonaro, a former army captain and longtime Trump admirer, has denied involvement in the attacks. But he and his allies amplified baseless claims about the integrity of Brazil’s voting system, which fueled the rage of rioters.
Out of government, the former head of state’s legal woes have spiraled. He is currently facing multiple criminal cases, including accusations that he sold presidential gifts for personal gain and actively worked to discredit Brazil’s voting system, which led authorities to confiscate his passport.
The danger of jail time led his lawmaker son Eduardo Bolsonaro to step away from his congressional duties earlier this year and relocate to Washington DC, where he has lobbied the Trump administration to take action against Brazil’s Supreme Court.
Brazil government opponents allege the court has tried to silence conservative voices and persecute the current president’s foes, a claim that has gained traction among Trump’s allies.
In a public letter to Bolsonaro on Thursday, Trump blasted the Brazilian government as a “ridiculous censorship regime” and said the former head of state’s trial, which is expected to begin later this year, “should end immediately!”
Moraes has continued to work through Brazil’s judicial recess in July. On Monday, the Prosecutor General’s Office submitted its closing arguments, detailing the charges, listing the evidence, and requesting a conviction for the attempted coup. Now Bolsonaro’s legal teams must present their final arguments on the case.
Moraes’s decision was confirmed by a majority of the Supreme Court panel in charge of Bolsonaro’s case. The extraordinary called today will run through Monday.
According to Moraes’ decision on Friday, the former president worked with his son Eduardo to hinder the investigation ordered by the court. Moraes banned Bolsonaro from communicating with his son in Washington. Bolsonaro said he believes Eduardo won’t return to Brazil and will seek American citizenship.
It is not the first time that Bolsonaro has been suspected of trying to dodge authorities. Last year, a New York Times investigation reveled that he stayed at the Hungarian embassy in Brasilia for four days after handing his passport over to federal police.
Bolsonaro later confirmed his stay at the embassy but denied claims he was seeking refuge.
