masterminding a plot<\/a> to orchestrate a coup and stay in power after his 2022 election defeat to Lula.<\/p>\nAnnouncing sanctions against de Moraes earlier on Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Brazilian Supreme Court justice had \u201ctaken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch-hunt\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cDe Moraes is responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights, and politicised prosecutions \u2013 including against former President Jair Bolsonaro,\u201d Bessent said.<\/p>\n
De Moraes was sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows the US to impose economic penalties against foreigners it considers to have a record of corruption or human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
Bessent\u2019s statement accused de Moraes of \u201cserious human rights abuse[s]\u201d for targeting opposition politicians \u2013 including Bolsonaro \u2013 journalists, newspapers, and US and international companies, including social media platforms.<\/p>\n
The decision orders the freezing of any assets or property de Moraes may have in the US.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump previously tied tariffs on Brazil to what he called a \u201cwitch-hunt\u201d against his right-wing ally.<\/p>\n
In a letter in mid-July announcing a 50-percent tariff on Brazilian goods, which will start on August 6, Trump opened the message with criticism of Bolsonaro\u2019s prosecution. Trump has since softened the blow by excluding key sectors in Brazil, such as aircraft, energy and orange juice, from the heaviest levies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not facing the worst-case scenario,\u201d Brazilian Treasury Secretary Rogerio Ceron told reporters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Responding to the 50-percent tariff in his statement on Wednesday, President Lula criticised Washington\u2019s \u201cunjustifiable\u201d attempts to use \u201cpolitical arguments to validate the trade measures\u201d against his country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe political motivation behind the measures against Brazil undermines national sovereignty and the historical relationship between the two countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On July 18, Brazilian police swooped on Bolsonaro\u2019s home and political headquarters, while de Moraes ordered the former president to wear an ankle bracelet and stop using social media over allegations he courted interference in his trial from Trump.<\/p>\n
Hours later, Washington imposed US visa restrictions on de Moraes, his family and other unnamed court officials, escalating tensions with the government of Latin America\u2019s largest economy.<\/p>\n
Bolsonaro has denied attempting to overthrow the government, but has acknowledged taking part in meetings aimed at reversing the election\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US froze Judge de Moraes\u2019s assets, citing his role in arbitrary detentions, censorship, and cases against Bolsonaro.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[2106,30,32,97095,3274,12,49,978,286,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-305674","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-brazil","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-jair-bolsonaro","12":"tag-latin-america","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-us-canada","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}