Institutions linked to the promotion of political motivations and economic interests in the US government report that criticized AEO, especially the minister, for an alleged setback in defending freedom of expression.
Prepared by the Human Rights Office of the State Department of, the “2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Brazil” (Human Rights Practice Report) states that the situation deteriorated in Brazil last year.
The document also says that Lula repressed the democratic debate and that he censured him, forcing them to delete social media posts. The text was sent to the US Congress.
“The government has damaged democratic debate by restricting access to online content considered as ‘harmful to democracy’, disproportionately suppressing the expression of former president’s supporters, as well as elected journalists and politicians, often in secret processes that needed due process guarantees,” says the report, an annual publication produced by the US government about all countries that are part of the UN.
It is considered an international reference in the field of human rights and has existed since the 1970s. The statements contrast with the previous document, made in the management of the Democrat, over 2023.
In this document, aggressions to journalists and other human rights suppression in the country were attributed to Bolsonaro, which left power in 2022, contesting the ballot boxes.
Paulo José Lara, executive director of the NGO Article 19, International Organization of Human Rights, sees no technical arguments in the new report of the White House.
“We know that Trump’s intention is to change international order, without appreciation for multilateralism, and to use the power to global disagreements according to political interests,” he says. “It is an intention to point out enemies while remaining silent on abuses that are committed in Russia and Israel.”
José Lara also states that, although there are problems in Brazil, freedom of expression improved in 2024, conceived by Article 19. The survey attributes notes from 0 to 100 to countries, considering several variables to measure freedom of expression, and creates a ranking from the notes.
In 2023, the year Bolsonaro left Planalto, Brazil jumped from 81st to the 35th. At the moment, Brazil occupies the 31st place with 83 points – Denmark leads the ranking with 94.
The document issued by the White House is part of a moment of tension between US and Brazil. Trump accuses Brazilian institutions to pursue Bolsonaro, now defendant in the STF for the coup plot, and applied a 50% surcharge to Brazilian products.
The former president is under house arrest, suspected of collaborating with his son, (), in attack against national sovereignty. Much of the report is dedicated to criticizing Moraes’ actions against misinformation on social networks.
Last year, the minister, who is accused by the censorship document, ordered the X (former Twitter) block in Brazil until accounts accused of fake news was removed. In June, the STF hardened the responsibility of the Big Techs active in Brazil.
In, the chief minister of (Attorney General of the Union), countered the report. “A government committed to democracy is a government that punishes coup attempts with the rigor of the law, without belittling attacks on the rule of law or placitating indulgence against aggressors of state institutions.”
For Rogério Sottili, executive director of the Vladimir Herzog Institute, the report is biased, expresses an ignorance of the functioning of institutions in Brazil and is not supported by facts or the reality of the country.
The document does not mention the impact of misinformation and platforms in Brazil. Nor does it address attacks on Brazilian democracy nor the weakening of public policy mechanisms for the strengthening of human rights carried out in the Bolsonaro government, he says.
“The report is fueled by addicted information from the largest human rights violators in Brazil and who, in recent years, have produced misinformation, have promoted crimes against human rights, have promoted destabilization of the Democratic Rule of Law,” says Sottili.
One of the founders and counselor of the Arns Human Rights Commission, Oscar Vilhena, columnist for SheetRemember that Brazilian law on freedom of expression is quite different from the American, being pertinent to the international regime.
According to him, it is paradoxical that the reprimands come now from the US. During his first term, Trump separated illegal mothers of his children on the borders. In his latest statement, he said that homeless people should leave the American capital, Washington.
“It is paradoxical that a report on human rights is being used to defend those who most conspired against human rights in Brazil and to attack precisely the institution that assumed the responsibility and weight of judging those accused of paying attention against the democratic rule of law in Brazil,” he says.
Silvia Souza, chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights of the Brazilian Bar Association, says that Brazil faces problems in the realization of human rights, but mainly due to social and racial inequality, affecting vulnerable groups such as blacks, women and LGBTQIAPN+.
The lawyer says that in the country, freedom of expression is not an absolute guarantee and that the disclosure of the report has a bias of maintenance of political polarization for authoritarian purposes.
The chairman of the Human Rights Commission of the IAB (Institute of Lawyers of Brazil), Paulo Fernando de Castro, also does not deny that there are violations in Brazil, but says that the report is motivated by political aspects and adds to other demonstrations of the Trump administration in relation to Brazil.
“I believe there is a certain radicalism, a certain exaggeration,” he says. According to the lawyer, there are punctual cases within the process and of which the person may defend himself in due process of law and eventually point out violations. “There was not, just as if trying to pass the image, a plot, something combined to undermine freedom of expression.”
