This story originally appeared in Panamerican Dispatch on Sep. 29, 2026, and is shared here with permission.
The close relationship between the Bolsonaro family and key figures in the international far right like Steve Bannon and U.S. President Donald Trump has been public knowledge for over eight years. In this article, tech specialist Miguel Manso looks at the state of that relationship, right now, just days before Brazil’s first-round presidential elections. – ed.
Just days before the first round of Brazil’s presidential election, a confidential report from the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) warns that the United States is influencing the country’s electoral process. Titled “Threats to the 2026 Electoral Process,” the report was sent in late August to the presidency, the Superior Electoral Court and the Justice Ministry, warning that U.S. interference has reached a “critical” level.
Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign has become the target of legal action over claims that it benefited from paid ads and mass messaging originating in the United States.
The coalitions backing Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party and Renan Santos of the Missão party asked the Superior Electoral Court and the Supreme Federal Court to investigate the senator for economic and political abuse of power and foreign interference.
The court filings allege the following:
Foreign amplification: U.S.-based right-wing profiles and influencers, including American political figures, allegedly ran paid campaign content on X in support of Flávio Bolsonaro.
Paid partnerships: The posts, labeled “paid partnership,” cited figures from the foreign betting platform Polymarket to claim that Bolsonaro was the favorite, distorting the actual state of Brazilian polling.
Prohibited financing: The parties allege that this amounts to the use of funds
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Sep. 11, 2025
. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro
was sentenced to over 27 years behind bars Thursday after four of five Supreme Court justices on a panel voted to convict the far-right leader and seven associates of plotting a military coup and assassination of current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other officials.
“This criminal case is almost a meeting between Brazil and its past, its present, and its future,” said Justice Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha, on Thursday cast the third and decisive vote to convict the former president and seven co-plotters, referring in part to the two decades of US-backed
military dictatorship, during which Bolsonaro served as an army paratrooper.
Lúcia joined Justices Flávio Dino, Cristiano Zanin, and Alexandre de Moraes—who, along with Lula and Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin were targeted for assassination by the plotters—in voting to convict the defendants of attempting to subvert Lula’s victory
in the 2022 presidential election.
The defendants—who in addition to Bolsonaro include army generals and former Defense Ministers Walter Braga Netto and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira; former Institutional Security Minister Augusto Heleno Ribiero; admiral and former Navy Commander Almir Garnier Santos; former Justice Minister Anderson Torres; and former presidential adviser Márcio Mirando—were found guilty of crimes including attempting a coup, involvement in an armed criminal organization, attempting the violent abolition of democratic rule of law, and aggravated damage of the state’s assets.
Brazil’s Supreme Court has refused to cave to imperialist threats from the USA and reached a 3×1 majority to convict ex-President Bolsonaro and 7 of his cronies (including army generals and the former commander of the Navy) of attempting a coup. My analysis @telesurenglishpic.twitter.com/3RAH10S43F
Lt. Col. Mauro Cid, a former Bolsonaro aide who turned state’s witness, was sentenced
Thursday to two years of confinement under open conditions, the most lenient form of carceral punishment in the Brazilian justice system.
“The government wanted to remain in power by simply ignoring democracy—and that is what constitutes a coup d’état,” Moraes said ahead of his vote on Tuesday. “The leader of the criminal group made it clear—publicly and in his own words—that he would never accept defeat at the ballot, a democratic loss in the elections, and that he would never abide by the will of the people.”
Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years, 3 months in prison, with penalties for the other convicted defendants still uncertain as of Thursday evening. Bolsonaro, who is 70 years old, denies any wrongdoing. He is currently under house arrest and could remain there until after exhausting the appeals process. He is already banned
from running for any office until 2030 due to his abuse of power related to baseless claims of electoral fraud.
bolsonaro was found guilty of plotting a military coup and brazilians are outside literally cheering and lighting fireworks pic.twitter.com/238LEtqmkP
Justice Luiz Fux voted Thursday to absolve Bolsonaro, asserting that there was “absolutely no proof” that the former president took part in or was even aware of the coup and assassination plot.
However, Lúcia argued that there was copious evidence indicating that Bolsonaro and his accomplices acted “with the purpose of eroding democracy and institutions.”
“They acted to hijack the soul of the republic,” she said. “The case files show a coordinated criminal enterprise by the defendants, who adopted the methods of a digital militia to attack the judiciary, the electoral system, and the electronic voting machines.”
The landmark verdict came amid acute political polarization in Latin America’s biggest democracy and threats from the office of US President Donald Trump
to unleash American “military might” in defense of the “Trump of the Tropics,” as Bolsonaro is often called. The Trump administration has already slapped 50% tariffs
on Brazilian imports and has sanctioned
Moraes.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded to Thursday’s developments by vowing on social media that “the United States will respond accordingly to this witch hunt.”
The political persecutions by sanctioned human rights abuser Alexandre de Moraes continue, as he and others on Brazil’s supreme court have unjustly ruled to imprison former President Jair Bolsonaro.
The United States will respond accordingly to this witch hunt.
Like Trump in 2020, Bolsonaro made many baseless allegations that his loss in the 2022 election was due to fraud, fueling lies and conspiracy theories that led to the January 8, 2023 mob attacks
on government buildings. Around 1,500 Bolsonaro supporters were arrested
in the days following the storming of Congress and the presidential offices.
While many right-wing Brazilians were outraged by the convictions, leftist lawmakers and others applauded what Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) called
“a historic moment for Brazil.”
🚨 CÁRMEN LUCIA VOTA PELA CONDENAÇÃO: A ministra Cármen Lúcia acaba de votar pela condenação de todos os réus por todos os crimes imputados pela PGR, formando maioria de 3 votos a 1 pela condenação do ex-presidente Jair Bolsonaro e dos outros sete acusados. O ministro Cristiano… pic.twitter.com/MEZty8NrWI
Brazilian Secretary of Institutional Affairs Gleisi Hoffmann (PT) said
on social media, “The conviction of Jair Bolsonaro and his accomplices by the Federal Supreme Court expresses the vigor of democracy and national sovereignty.”
“They were convicted in due legal process, based on compelling evidence of the crimes they committed,” she continued. “It is a historic, unprecedented decision so that they may never again dare to attack the rule of law and the will of the people expressed at the ballot box.”
“It is also the proud response of Brazil’s judiciary to the economic sanctions and absurd coercion of the Donald Trump government, in conspiracy with the traitors to the homeland in the service of Bolsonaro,” Hoffmann added. “Today… Brazil told the world that crimes against democracy are intolerable. And they are unforgivable.”
Federal Deputy Talíria Petrone (Socialism and Liberty-Rio de Janeiro) called
Thursday “the greatest day ever,” while former colleague Jean Wyllys also hailed
this “great day.”
Erika Hilton, a Socialism and Liberty federal deputy representing São Paulo, taunted Bolsonaro with the prospect of a lengthy stay at a notorious maximum security penitentiary.
🚨 BOLSONARO, A PAPUDA TE ESPERA!
A Primeira Turma do Supremo Tribunal Federal acaba de definir a pena total de 27 anos e 3 meses de reclusão em regime FECHADO ao condenado Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro e seus aliados foram condenados pelos crimes de tentativa de golpe de Estado,… pic.twitter.com/5yzin5kzRb
Federal Deputy Benedita da Silva (PT-Rio de Janeiro) said
on social media that “democratic Brazil is proud and celebrating the firm decision” of the high court, “whose members suffered countless threats, including death threats, from the conspirators against the democratic rule of law.”
Referring to the United States, da Silva praised the justices, who “did not bow to the threats to our sovereignty from the greatest external power.”“Now we have to defeat the amnesty coup of the convicted plotters that they are still trying to pass,” she added, a reference to efforts by the right-wing Congress to pass clemency legislation for Bolsonaro. “No amnesty!”
