By Emir Sader on August 9, 2025
Jair Bolsonaro
Everything indicated, based on the progress of the proceedings against him, that Jair Bolsonaro would be imprisoned around October of this year. He himself already seemed resigned to going to prison.
His sons, particularly Eduardo Bolsonaro, who is in the United States, have shifted their attacks to Judge Alexandre Moraes, who is in charge of their father’s case. Eduardo had managed to get US President Donald Trump to take tough economic measures against Brazil, with the explicit aim of securing an amnesty, especially for his father.
Suddenly, Judge Moraes has ordered Bolsonaro to be placed under house arrest. He already had an ankle bracelet, which allows his movements to be monitored, so that the ban on Bolsonaro approaching any embassy or consulate could be enforced.
But now Moraes has ordered Bolsonaro’s confinement, which, given his age and state of health, amounts to house arrest, even before the verdicts in the cases against him are handed down. Bolsonaro was already barred from running for any public office.
In an attempt to regain the initiative, Bolsonaro supporters called for demonstrations in many provincial capitals across the country last Sunday. But, as might be expected, turnout was very low, confirming that Bolsonaro‘s image, now under heavy attack from all media outlets, is in irreversible decline.
At the same time, Donald Trump’s offensive against Brazil, driven by his son in the United States, was aimed precisely at preventing his imprisonment. But the White House had already relaxed many of the measures initially taken, while Trump prepared to talk with Brazilian President Lula da Silva.
Before calling Trump, Brazilian Economy Minister Fernando Haddad held talks with a Trump adviser to prepare for the phone call between the two leaders.
It remains to be seen how house arrest will affect the US president’s conciliatory attitude toward the Brazilian government. Lula has strongly protested Trump’s economic measures and his attempts to interfere in the Brazilian judiciary. But he agreed to talk to Trump on the phone.
Now everything depends on Trump’s reaction to Jair Bolsonaro’s house arrest.
Source: La Jornada, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English