Brazil’s Bolsonaro ordered to wear an electronic ankle monitor
SAO PAULO—Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro has been ordered to wear an ankle monitor, his press office said on Friday.
The development came as federal police conducted searches at his home and his party’s headquarters in Brasília, according to people familiar with the court order.
Local media reported that Bolsonaro is also barred from using social media or contacting other individuals under investigation by the Supreme Federal Court, including his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian lawmaker who currently lives in the United States and is known for his close ties to US President Donald Trump.
A police statement said that officers in Brasília carried out “two search and seizure warrants, in addition to precautionary measures other than arrest, in compliance with a decision by the Supreme Court.” The statement did not name Bolsonaro.
Some see the latest travails of the former Brazilian president as fallout from Trump trying to pressure Brasilia over Bolsonaro using higher tariffs.
Last week, Trump sent a letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva threatening a 50-percent import tax and directly linking the decision to Bolsonaro’s trial, which he called a “witch hunt.”
“This trial should end immediately!” Trump wrote Thursday evening in a second letter, this one addressed to Bolsonaro. He added that he had “strongly voiced” his disapproval through his tariff policy.
Rather than backing down, Brazil’s Supreme Court escalated the case, worsening Bolsonaro’s legal troubles.
Meanwhile, Lula—who was facing higher unpopularity, growing opposition in Congress and increasing risks to his likely reelection bid—seems to have gained politically from the situation.
Now the 79-year-old leftist Lula, in office for the third nonconsecutive term of his long political career, is seeing renewed acceptance, congressional support against Trump and pleas to run one last time to defend Brazil’s sovereignty.
Lula energized
Lula has appeared more energized in public since Trump’s announcement. At a national students assembly Thursday, he wore a blue cap reading “Sovereign Brazil Unites Us”—a contrast to Maga’s red cap.
“A gringo will not give orders to this president,” he told the crowd, and called the tariff hike “unacceptable blackmail.”
The impact on Lula is not a first. Trump’s actions targeting other countries have boosted ideological rivals in Canada and Australia instead of strengthening his allies at a local level.
Private pollster Atlas said Tuesday that Lula’s unpopularity had reversed course after his spat with Trump. Lula’s job approval went from at 47.3 percent in June to 49.7 percent since the tariffs battle began.
The poll of more than 2,800 people was conducted July 11 to July 13, with a margin of error of 2 percentage points. The study also said 62.2 percent of Brazilians think the higher tariffs are unjustified while 36.8 percent agree with the measure.
Even Bolsonaro’s former vice president, Sen. Hamilton Mourão, criticized Trump’s move as undue interference in Brazil’s politics, though he said he agreed the trial against the far-right leader is biased against him.
