Ex-Prez Bolsonaro's conviction is not a 'witch hunt', Lula pushes back against Trump's wrath

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pushed back Sunday against harsh US criticism of the conviction this week of his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro on coup charges.

In his first public reaction to Bolsonaro’s conviction, Lula wrote in a New York Times opinion column – addressed to US counterpart Donald Trump – that he was “proud” of the Supreme Court verdict which “safeguards our institutions and the democratic rule of law.”

“This was not a ‘witch hunt’” as Trump and other US officials have called the trial, Lula wrote in a guest essay titled: “Brazilian democracy and sovereignty are non-negotiable.”

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Trump’s ally Bolsonaro, 70, was convicted in a 4-1 decision of plotting a coup to overthrow leftist rival Lula following the far-right leader’s October 2022 election defeat.

His lawyers have said they will appeal.

Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison, in a conviction Trump called “very surprising” and to which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Washington will “respond accordingly.”

Trump has already slapped a 50-percent tariff on many Brazilian imports, citing the trial of Bolsonaro as well as various other issues which he claimed threatened the US economy, national security, and foreign policy.

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The United States has also sanctioned the judge overseeing Bolsonaro’s trial, Alexandre de Moraes, who has led a charge against disinformation in Brazil, sparking feuds with US tech giants.

Lula criticized Trump’s tariffs as “not only misguided but illogical,” given the United States’ trade surplus with Brazil.

The lack of a logical economic rationale behind the tariffs, Lula added, “makes it clear that the motivation of the White House is political.”

Hospital visit

Lula also knocked Trump’s administration for accusing Brazil of “targeting and censoring” American tech companies like X, arguing that such firms were being regulated, not censored.

And he described as “baseless” Washington’s charge of unfair practices in electronic payment services and in its digital payment system known as PIX.

Lula, who at 79 is barely seven months older than Trump, said he penned his essay “to establish an open and frank dialogue” with his US counterpart, and stressed Brasilia remains “open” to negotiation on any issue.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly criticized Brazil’s judicial system over the Bolsonaro case, which has sparked a diplomatic crisis between the two biggest economies in the Americas.

But Lula insisted the judicial actions were fair and comprehensive.

“It followed months of investigations that uncovered plans to assassinate me, the vice president and a Supreme Court justice,” he said.

The plot was not carried out due to lack of support from the military leadership, according to the Supreme Court ruling.

The process was “very much like they tried to do with me, but they didn’t get away with it at all,” Trump said Thursday, referring to his own legal battle after his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Bolsonaro, who has been under house arresta and banned from using social media, on Sunday made his first public appearance since the conviction, for a hospital visit.

His doctor, Claudio Birolini, told reporters that the former president had eight skin lesions removed and sent for biopsies.

He added that Bolsonaro, who has had multiple operations in recent years due to complications from a 2018 stabbing in his stomach, was “quite weak” and had developed slight anemia, “probably due to poor nutrition over the last month.”

Dozens of supporters gathered outside the hospital to cheer on their beloved ex-president, waving Brazilian flags.

“I hope justice will prevail. It’s difficult, but with the intervention of other countries…I am hopeful that it will turn out well,” one supporter, 67-year-old engineer Francisco Costa, told AFP.