Opinion column of The Wall Street Journal published this Sunday (9) places the STF and Minister Alexandre de Moraes as responsible for the deterioration of freedom of expression in Brazil. The WSJ text, written by columnist Mary Anastasia O’Grady, comments on Moraes’ decision to block X, a measure that, according to the journalist, was taken to “silence those who contest the State’s official version of the truth.”
O’Grady points out that the repression of freedom of expression and the denial of due process in Brazil dates back to 2020, and that it is now getting worse. The WSJ text highlights that the big problem – which seems not to have been identified by Brazilians yet – is that the STF, “led by Moraes and others who share his thirst for power”, has been involved in national politics “up to its neck” for more than 4 years.
She recalls the involvement of the Brazilian Supreme Court in the annulment of corruption trials against Lula and other politicians, which culminated in Lula’s release from prison and his subsequent candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic. “Defenders of the convicted worked to delegitimize the federal investigation – Operation Lava Jato – in the public debate,” highlights the WSJ columnist.
“Rock Bottom”
For O’Grady, the criticism generated by the Supreme Court’s actions to annul the Lava Jato cases caused Moraes and the other ministers, “considering themselves above the people and any reproach”, to be offended by the public outbursts against them. She cites as an example the cases of censorship during the 2021 electoral campaign committed by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), at the time under Moraes’ command.
With Lula’s victory by a small margin of votes and the impossibility of a physical recount of votes – “an audit was impossible because the Supreme Court struck down a law that would provide a paper record to verify electronic results,” writes the WSJ columnist – “citizens frustrated” with the result went to Brasília in protest, “where chaos erupted on January 8, 2022,” says O’Grady
“Moraes used this event to justify procedural excesses, which include keeping secret investigative files on outspoken critics of the State,” writes the columnist. For her, the insistence on keeping the investigations secret is “undermining Brazilians’ trust in institutions” and that the increasingly intense repression of freedom of expression in the country does not help at all. “On the contrary, it is expected to take Brazilian democracy even further down the drain,” the text concludes.
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