RIO DE JANEIRO – Alexandre de Moraes, Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) of Brazil, is a kind of political tests of political Rorschach.
In recent years, he has conducted an aggressive campaign to eliminate from the Brazilian internet what he considers threats to the country’s democratic institutions, ordering the removal of hundreds of accounts on social networks, almost all of the right.
As a result, the Brazilian left sees him as a savior of national democracy, helping to protect her against an attempt to blow in 2022.
To the right, he is a dangerous government censor who abused power to silence conservative voices online.
Elon Musk challenged him, President Donald Trump’s media company sued him, and former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is accused of planning his murder.
Now, for the first time, Moraes seems to be at the target of the United States – a development that can cause diplomatic friction among the two largest nations of the western hemisphere.
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On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US would restrict visas from foreign officers “responsible for censorship of protected expressions in the United States.” In an online publication, Rubio quoted Latin America as an example of a region where this censorship has been a problem.
The State Department has not confirmed whether Moraes is the target of the measure, but the agency’s policy aligns with criticisms with it, including restrictions on officers who require American technology companies to remove content or threaten to issue arrest warrants against US residents for online statements.
Rubio also informed Congress last week that American authorities study imposing sanctions against Moraes and that “there is a great possibility that this happens.”
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Separately, the Justice Department sent a letter to Moraes this month, rebuking it for ordering Rumble, a popular American social network among conservatives, to block the accounts of a specific user, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The New York Times, which had not been released before.
The Justice Department said Moraes may apply laws in Brazil, but cannot order companies to take specific actions in the US.
A spokesman for Moraes declined to comment.
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Any action of the Trump administration against Moraes could destabilize the bilateral relationship between the two countries, already tensioned since Trump’s election.
Moraes is the main judge in the federal criminal case who will decide whether Bolsonaro has tried to strike himself in power after electoral defeat in 2022. Bolsonaro has been one of Trump’s closest allies between current and old world leaders, and has publicly asked for help to Trump to get rid of what he calls political persecution.
In February, one day after Bolsonaro was indicted in the case of the coup, Trump Media & Technology Group-mostly controlled by Trump-and Rumble sued Moraes, accusing him of ordering the blockade of a Brazilian who lives in the US and seeking political asylum.
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Rubio told Congress that American authorities studying to use the Global Magnitsky Law to sanction Moraes, an extraordinary measure, as the law aims to punish foreigners accused of serious human rights or corruption violations, and Moraes is an STF minister in full activity and regularly before the Brazilian judiciary and government.
Following the testimony of Rubio, Brazilian diplomats began negotiations with their American peers, resulting in high -level conversations involving Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, according to a Brazilian employee who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Brazilians stressed that Moraes’ orders to remove online accounts were taken in the face of a serious threat to Brazilian democracy, considering that the authorities discovered a plan that provided for military intervention and that Bolsonaro supporters invaded power buildings a week after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s inauguration.
The announcement of the visa restriction policy, instead of sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Law, was seen as more acceptable by Brazilians, said the employee.
It is unclear if the US has already taken or planning to take any action against Moraes.
The state department’s visa policy focuses on foreign officers trying to force US companies to act in the US. Martin de Luca, Rumble’s lawyer, said Moraes ordered a US user to block the accounts. An American federal judge said Moraes did not try to force Rumble to act in the US and that his orders are applicable mainly in Brazil.
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