Rubio vows strong US response to Bolsonaro’s conviction in Brazil

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that the U.S. would respond after former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup to remain in power after his loss in the 2022 election, although the secretary did not go into detail about what a U.S. response would look like.

“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,” Rubio wrote on X.

“The United States will respond accordingly to this witch hunt,” he continued.

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry argued that Rubio’s comment represented a threat that “attacks Brazilian authority and ignores the facts and the compelling evidence in the records.”

TRUMP ADMIN SANCTIONS BRAZILIAN JUDGE OVERSEEING BOLSONARO COUP-PLOT PROBE

The ministry said Brazilian democracy would not be intimidated by the U.S. government.

Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison when he was convicted by the country’s Supreme Court on Thursday on charges of plotting a coup to stop President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking office in January 2023.

The former Brazilian leader was a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump during the first Trump administration.

“Well, I watched that trial. I know him pretty well. I thought he was a good president of Brazil, and it’s very surprising that could happen very much like they tried to do with me, but they didn’t get away with it at all,” Trump told reporters, noting the legal cases against the U.S. president in recent years at the state and federal level, which included his conviction in New York.

“But I can always say this: I knew him as president of Brazil. He was a good man,” he added.

RUBIO ANNOUNCES VISA REVOCATIONS ON BRAZILIAN JUDGE FOR ‘POLITICAL WITH HUNT’ AGAINST EX-PRESIDENT BOLSONARO

Former Brazilian…