The White House Is Directly Involved in Helping Flávio Bolsonaro Evade Justice in Brazil

The Trump administration’s assistance to the Bolsonaro family represents a very direct form of political intervention in the domestic affairs of a major country in Latin America.

A Defeated Candidate, a Private Jet and a White House Connection

Flávio Bolsonaro didn’t leave Brazil as an ordinary traveller. He left after having lost the presidential run-off to Lula, after a Supreme Court justice had ordered him to hand over his passports and whilst he was the subject of a number of investigations into alleged financial crimes. His journey to Miami via Argentina and Ecuador was arranged through a political and logistical network which had direct links to the Trump administration.

The US involvement is no longer just theory. The NY Times, Folha de S. Paulo and Reuters have all now linked the operation to people within the White House and the State Department. Jason Miller, one of Trump’s key advisers, is said to have been involved in arranging the private plane. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also very much involved in the process of Flávio getting into the US. Reuters reports that Rubio was the one who recommended that the US authorities grant humanitarian parole to the Brazilian senator and his family. President Trump has confirmed that Flávio has indeed received a “pass”.

The detail is that this wasn’t just the case of a Brazilian politician turning up at an American airport and asking for entry. Washington was fully aware of the situation, was fully aware of the Brazilian judicial constraints and yet still helped him to escape. The administration has confirmed that visas will be issued to Flávio and his family, enabling them to stay in the country.

The line between humanitarian protection, immigration parole and political asylum is of course a legally significant one. It doesn’t, however, change the fundamental geopolitical issue of why the US administration was so keen to get involved on behalf of a candidate who had been defeated in a fair, clean election and who was, in fact, subject to judicial restrictions in his own country.

The episode must be viewed in the wider context of a campaign by Trump administration officials to bring the Bolsonaro movement back to power in Brazil. His campaign included sanctions on Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and others and trade tariffs — all measures against Brazil were lobbied by the Bolsonaro family, especially Eduardo Bolsonaro, who lives in Texas. The pattern of activity clearly shows a concerted effort by key Washington officials to push Brazil, and Latin America as a whole, to the far right and, therefore, to be submissive to the Trump government.

This is not normal diplomacy, but Brazil is playing the card of patience to avoid direct confrontation. However, President Lula told Trump on several occasions not to interfere in Brazil’s affairs, that “Brazil is nobody’s backyard”, and that Brazil would exercise its strategic autonomy.

Serious Investigations, Not........

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