Bunk Strutts

The center of the Brazil story is not Flavio Bolsonaro but rather Alexandre de Moraes, who has utterly destroyed the credibility of the Brazilian justice system and its democracy through years of escalating persecution against critics, dissidents and political opponents, all while the Brazilian left celebrated him for doing it. That's why countries now routinely reject Brazil's extradition requests in Moraes' cases, and why international media has continuously warned of Brazilian authoritarianism as a result of the censorship and imprisonment regime that the Brazilian left built with Moraes as its leader. (And all of that is separate from the massive corruption scandal he's at the middle of, where his family received $40 million from the corrupt billionaire who caused Brazil's largest-ever banking collapse). If you don't start your "reporting" about the Bolsonaro/US case by emphasizing that it was Moraes who ordered Bolsonaro's passport seized and banned him from leaving the country -- as an obvious prelude to arresting him even though he's been charged with no crimes -- then there's no way to understand what happened here let alone explain to readers and viewers why Flavio Bolsonaro would never have gotten anything remotely resembling a fair trial.

Brazilian authorities and media are trying to find out where Flavio Bolsonaro is. Brazil's notorious authoritarian Judge Alexandre de Moraes -- before the votes were counted -- already had an order prepared to seize Bolsonaro's passports and bar him from leaving the country even though **he's been charged with no crime** (there are various pending financial investigations). Moraes signed the order barring Bolsonaro from leaving Brazil SEVEN MINUTES after Lula was declared the winner on Sunday night. A media outlet in Argentina this morning reported that Bolsonaro entered Argentina to fly to the US. His friends and allies deny this, but Flavio could easily just appear in Brazil or even by video and has not done so. Argentina is being sketchy, evasive and somewhat uncooperative with Brazil's federal police (Lula and Milei are obviously not allies). Whatever else is true, it is not exactly a sign of a healthy, normal or functioning democracy when the candidate who narrowly loses a presidential race -- and concedes defeat -- is suddenly barred from leaving the country by a Supreme Court Judge now globally notorious for censoring, imprisoning and otherwise persecuting his critics and opponents of Lula's government. It is also worth noting that Bolsonaro's party dominates the Senate, having run on a vow to impeach Moraes, and this is seen by many as a kind of leverage/hostage ploy by Moraes to cling to power.

For those who decided to invent some bizarre new authoritarian law-and-order rule today to justify Moraes' ban on Bolsonaro leaving the country -- that if you're under investigation (without even being charged), it's normal to have your passport seized -- please note: Lula's son is engulfed in several major financial scandals and investigations relating to lobbyist corruption. His passport has never been seized or cancelled. In fact, he left Brazil to go live in extreme luxury in Spain (in the same neighborhood where several of the world's highest-paid soccer players live), where nobody can explain the source of what appears to be his great wealth. Countless rich and powerful people in Brazil, including Lula's allies, are under investigation yet freely leave the country when they want: jetting off to Dubai, France, wherever. Truly bizarre how some on the left start fabricating extremist police powers when it suits them.

Há algum outro exemplo em todo o mundo democrático em que o candidato derrotado numa eleição presidencial tenha seus passaportes apreendidos e seja proibido de sair do país no dia seguinte à votação, por ordem de um juiz alinhado ao candidato vencedor? Estou procurando precedentes históricos e, até agora, não encontrei nenhum. A medida é ainda mais extrema considerando que Flávio sequer foi denunciado criminalmente.

If, by the way, the same situation that just happened in Brazil had happened but with the parties switched -- if Bolsonaro had won last night's election and then a pro-Bolsonaro judge sent the Federal Police to seize Lula's passport and bar him from leaving the country -- every major western media outlet and liberal NGOs would be screaming about the authoritarian attack on Brazil's elections and the destruction of basic freedoms.