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The President of Brazil, Louis Inasio Lula da Silva, defended the process he saw his predecessor, Jeir Bolsonaro, sentenced to more than 27 years in prison to think of a coup.
In the opinion Posted in The New York TimesLula rejected the description of US President Donald Trump from the trial as “witch hunting”, saying it was a “historical solution that defended our institutions and the democratic rule of law.”
The Brazilian leader said he wrote the essay to establish an open and outspoken dialogue with US President Donald Trump, who imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports.
Lula called the tariff march “not only misled but also illogical.”
Relations have been tense between the US and Brazil in recent months, in full contrast to the times when Trump’s colleague in Brazil was Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro often expressed his admiration for Trump, who hosted him at his resort Mar-Lago in 2020.
Lula, a leftist leader who is known for his direct tone, does not tingle his words in his editorial office in the New York Times.
He said in the last 15 years the United States has “accumulated an excess of $ 410 billion (£ 302 billion) in bilateral trade in goods and services,” adding the decision to impose tariffs can only be political.
“The US government is using the rates and the Magnitsky Law to seek impunity for former President Jeir Bolsonaro,” Lula wrote, citing the sanctions that the United States imposed on the justice of the Supreme Court, which leads the Bolsonaro trial.
The trial ended on Thursday, when four of the five Supreme Court judges in the group, charged with the court process to judge Bolsonaro, found him guilty of all the five charges he was faced with. A simple majority is needed to condemn it.
Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and 3 months in prison – a sentence that his attorneys tell him to appeal.
Trump said he had found the sentence “very surprising”, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced that the US will “respond respectively to this witch hunt.”
In his New York Times article, Lula insists that the process is “not” witch hunt “.
“The decision was the result of the 1988 Constitution of Brazil’s Constitution, adopted after two decades of combating military dictatorship,” he wrote, reminding readers that Brazil’s democracy was restored in 1985 after 20 years of military government.
Lula also rejected the Trump administration’s accusations that Brazil’s justice system has directed and censors US technology companies.
The Brazilian president said his country’s courts were correct to regulate the Internet and that US companies were not treated unfairly.
He ended his essay, turning directly to President Trump, telling his American counterpart that Brazil remains open to negotiations “Anything that could bring mutual benefits”, but warned Trump that “Democracy and Brazil’s sovereignty were not on the table”.
