The Brazilian top court on Friday ordered former president Jair Bolsonaro to wear an electronic ankle monitor, a Reuters report said. The court has also ordered the former president to cease all communications with his son Eduardo and Ambassadors, as well as stop using social media.
According to a Bloomberg report, which cited local press, police carried out search warrants against Bolsonaro on Friday. He is about to stand trial over an alleged coup attempt.
The federal police said in a statement that they carried out two search and seizure warrants, “in addition to precautionary measures other than imprisonment.” The statement didn’t mention Bolsonaro by name but referred to the case he is involved in before the Supreme Court.
The police operation was authorised by Brazil’s Supreme Court, which has drawn criticism from US President Donald Trump, who claims there is a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro and his supporters, the report said.
Bolsonaro-Trump bonhomie
Earlier on Thursday, Trump ratcheted up pressure on Brazil to drop criminal charges against former president Bolsonaro, saying he would be “watching closely” for a response just a week after threatening to impose punishing tariffs on the South American nation, Bloomberg reported.
In an open letter addressed to Bolsonaro, Trump described the right-wing populist leader as the victim of “terrible treatment” and again demanding that the trial over his alleged role in a failed coup attempt to overturn the 2022 election “should end immediately!”
Trump said he was “very concerned about the attacks on free speech — both in Brazil and in the United States — coming out of the current government.”
Trump’s tariff threat to Brazil
The warning marks the latest escalation in a high-stakes feud between the leaders of the Western hemisphere’s most populous nations, and comes amid a flurry of letters sent by the US president to announce tariffs on other economies. Trump threatened President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with a 50 per cent levy on Brazil, citing the treatment of Bolsonaro and grievances over allegedly unfair trade practices.
On Tuesday, the Office of the US Trade Representative opened an investigation, at Trump’s direction, into Brazil’s trade practices and whether the country is unfairly restricting US exports, the report added.
Yet Brazil’s case has been unique. Latin America’s largest economy runs a trade deficit with the US, while almost all of Trump’s other tariff targets post large surpluses, and its 79-year-old president has so far shown no signs of heeding to US demands.
(With inputs from agencies)