{"id":406211,"date":"2025-09-07T21:32:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T21:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/406211\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T21:32:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T21:32:16","slug":"hes-our-last-resort-bolsonaro-supporters-beg-trump-to-intervene-in-ex-presidents-coup-trial-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/406211\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He\u2019s our last resort\u2019: Bolsonaro supporters beg Trump to intervene in ex-president\u2019s coup trial | Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brazil\u2019s leftwing president, Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva<\/a>, has vowed his country will take orders from no one, as followers of his far-right predecessor hit the streets to urge Donald Trump to turn the screws on Brazil\u2019s government and judiciary on the eve of Jair Bolsonaro\u2019s judgment for allegedly plotting a coup.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro\u2019s supreme court trial is due to conclude this week, with both political allies and enemies of the former president convinced he will receive a hefty sentence for allegedly conspiring to cling to power<\/a> after losing the 2022 election.<\/p>\n

Trump has already hit Brazil<\/a> with 50% tariffs in retaliation for what he calls a \u201cwitch hunt\u201d against his South American ally and announced sanctions against Alexandre de Moraes, the supreme court justice presiding over the trial.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Brazil\u2019s independence day, Bolsonaristas went on the march in some of their country\u2019s biggest cities to implore the US president to further escalate his pressure campaign against Brazilian institutions and officials. Many came cloaked in the US flag or carried posters asking Trump to act.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the only one who can save us \u2026 Trump is our only salvation,\u201d said Rodrigo da Silva, a 45-year-old salesman who was one of thousands of Bolsonaro voters to gather in the capital, Bras\u00edlia, under a fierce sun.<\/p>\n

A demonstration in support of Jair Bolsonaro also took place in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil, on Sunday. Photograph: Nelson Almeida\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hours earlier, Lula used his independence day address to condemn foreign attempts to influence the outcome of Bolsonaro\u2019s trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not, and never again will we be, anyone\u2019s colony \u2026 we do not take orders from anyone,\u201d Lula declared, denouncing the \u201ctraitorous\u201d rightwing politicians who were \u201cencouraging\u201d Trump\u2019s campaign against Brazil.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro\u2019s congressman son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, has spent recent months in the US lobbying Trump officials to target the Brazilian authorities in an attempt to save his father from prison.<\/p>\n

At Sunday\u2019s demonstrations, Bolsonaro devotees urged Trump to do more to help their 70-year-old leader, who has been living under house arrest since early August<\/a> after violating a court order banning him from using social media. If convicted this week, he faces a sentence of up to 43 years. The verdict is expected on Thursday or Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe represents our last resort,\u201d a woman who gave her name as Maria da Silva said of Trump at the rally in Bras\u00edlia.<\/p>\n

Standing near a sound truck decorated with a banner reading \u201cAmerica Save Brazil\u201d, Silva insisted Bolsonaro was innocent and attacked the supreme court\u2019s \u201ctotally biased\u201d treatment of the rightwing populist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to eliminate Bolsonaro and there is no one else to turn to in Brazil. There is only Trump who is turning his eyes to us. That\u2019s why he\u2019s our last resort,\u201d added the woman, hoisting into the air a placard that said: \u201cWe [heart sign] Trump\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a woman of faith and I believe that God will help us. He can use Trump to help us,\u201d she added in English.<\/p>\n

Thousands joined a pro-Bolsonaro rally at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. Photograph: Pilar Olivares\/Reuters<\/p>\n

In Rio, thousands of demonstrators flocked to Copacabana beach to show their support for Bolsonaro, who retains the support of millions of Brazilians despite police claims he orchestrated a failed coup. The former president denies the charges but has admitted seeking \u201calternative\u201d ways of staying in power.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump was the only one who raised his voice to put an end to the supreme court\u2019s persecution of Bolsonaro,\u201d said Jorge Faria, 78, who was one of many at the Copacabana rally carrying a flag that mixed Brazil\u2019s yellow and green standard with the US stars and stripes.<\/p>\n

In S\u00e3o Paulo,\u200b thousands more pro-Bolsonaro protesters packed the avenue outside the city\u2019s \u200bmuseum of \u200bar\u200bt and unfurled a giant US flag.<\/p>\n

Addressing the throng, the rightwing state governor, Tarc\u00edsio de Freitas\u200b, who is considered a likely Bolsonaro heir, lashed out at the \u201ctyranny\u200b\u201d of Moraes, one of five supreme court judges who will decide the former president\u2019s fate over the coming days.<\/p>\n

Leftwing joy over the anticipated conviction of a politician who prosecutors claim tried to plunge Brazil back into authoritarian rule has been tempered by anger over Trump\u2019s intervention and fears the country\u2019s conservative-dominated congress could eventually approve an amnesty for Bolsonaro.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really worried about my country and I think it\u2019s my obligation to fight for our freedom and our independence,\u201d said Hilda Resende, a retired civil servant who is part of a leftwing embroidery collective called Borda Luta<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Resende\u2019s group was distributing embroidered brooches that say \u201cGet out Trump\u201d and caps carrying the words \u201cBrazil belongs to Brazilians\u201d at a pro-Lula rally in Bras\u00edlia on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot accept the president of any foreign power trying to give orders to our country and our justice system \u2013 no matter how many weapons they have,\u201d Resende said, adding: \u201cIt\u2019s our business who we put in jail and who we don\u2019t put in jail. It\u2019s a domestic matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ricardo Cappelli, a leftwing politician who Lula put in charge of Bras\u00edlia\u2019s security after January 2023\u2019s rightwing riots, said he agreed with JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, who recently called Trump \u201ca wannabe dictator\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe behaves like a dictator \u2013 but he can\u2019t get away with that here in Brazil. We\u2019re a sovereign country and \u2026 no foreign agent will meddle in our country\u2019s domestic affairs,\u201d Cappelli said at the pro-government event in Bras\u00edlia.<\/p>\n