Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has vowed his country will take orders from no one, as followers of his far-right predecessor hit the streets to urge Donald Trump to turn the screws on Brazil’s government and judiciary on the eve of Jair Bolsonaro’s judgment for allegedly plotting a coup.
Bolsonaro’s supreme court trial is due to conclude this week, with both political allies and enemies of the former president convinced he will receive a hefty sentence for allegedly conspiring to cling to power after losing the 2022 election.
Trump has already hit Brazil with 50% tariffs in retaliation for what he calls a “witch hunt” against his South American ally and announced sanctions against Alexandre de Moraes, the supreme court justice presiding over the trial.
On Sunday, Brazil’s independence day, Bolsonaristas went on the march in some of their country’s biggest cities to implore the US president to further escalate his pressure campaign against Brazilian institutions and officials. Many came cloaked in the US flag or carried posters asking Trump to act.
“He’s the only one who can save us … Trump is our only salvation,” said Rodrigo da Silva, a 45-year-old salesman who was one of thousands of Bolsonaro voters to gather in the capital, Brasília, under a fierce sun.
Hours earlier, Lula used his independence day address to condemn foreign attempts to influence the outcome of Bolsonaro’s trial.
“We are not, and never again will we be, anyone’s colony … we do not take orders from anyone,” Lula declared, denouncing the “traitorous” rightwing politicians who were “encouraging” Trump’s campaign against Brazil.
Bolsonaro’s congressman son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, has spent recent months in the US lobbying Trump officials to target the Brazilian authorities in an attempt to save his father from prison.
At Sunday’s demonstrations, Bolsonaro devotees urged Trump to do more to help their 70-year-old leader, who has been living under house arrest since early August after violating a court order banning him from using social media. If convicted this week, he faces a sentence of up to 43 years. The verdict is expected on Thursday or Friday.
“He represents our last resort,” a woman who gave her name as Maria da Silva said of Trump at the rally in Brasília.
Standing near a sound truck decorated with a banner reading “America Save Brazil”, Silva insisted Bolsonaro was innocent and attacked the supreme court’s “totally biased” treatment of the rightwing populist.
“They want to eliminate Bolsonaro and there is no one else to turn to in Brazil. There is only Trump who is turning his eyes to us. That’s why he’s our last resort,” added the woman, hoisting into the air a placard that said: “We [heart sign] Trump”.
“I am a woman of faith and I believe that God will help us. He can use Trump to help us,” she added in English.
In Rio, thousands of demonstrators flocked to Copacabana beach to show their support for Bolsonaro, who retains the support of millions of Brazilians despite police claims he orchestrated a failed coup. The former president denies the charges but has admitted seeking “alternative” ways of staying in power.
“Trump was the only one who raised his voice to put an end to the supreme court’s persecution of Bolsonaro,” said Jorge Faria, 78, who was one of many at the Copacabana rally carrying a flag that mixed Brazil’s yellow and green standard with the US stars and stripes.
In São Paulo, thousands more pro-Bolsonaro protesters packed the avenue outside the city’s museum of art and unfurled a giant US flag.
Addressing the throng, the rightwing state governor, Tarcísio de Freitas, who is considered a likely Bolsonaro heir, lashed out at the “tyranny” of Moraes, one of five supreme court judges who will decide the former president’s fate over the coming days.
Leftwing joy over the anticipated conviction of a politician who prosecutors claim tried to plunge Brazil back into authoritarian rule has been tempered by anger over Trump’s intervention and fears the country’s conservative-dominated congress could eventually approve an amnesty for Bolsonaro.
“I’m really worried about my country and I think it’s my obligation to fight for our freedom and our independence,” said Hilda Resende, a retired civil servant who is part of a leftwing embroidery collective called Borda Luta.
Resende’s group was distributing embroidered brooches that say “Get out Trump” and caps carrying the words “Brazil belongs to Brazilians” at a pro-Lula rally in Brasília on Sunday.
“We cannot accept the president of any foreign power trying to give orders to our country and our justice system – no matter how many weapons they have,” Resende said, adding: “It’s our business who we put in jail and who we don’t put in jail. It’s a domestic matter.”
Ricardo Cappelli, a leftwing politician who Lula put in charge of Brasília’s security after January 2023’s rightwing riots, said he agreed with JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, who recently called Trump “a wannabe dictator”.
“He behaves like a dictator – but he can’t get away with that here in Brazil. We’re a sovereign country and … no foreign agent will meddle in our country’s domestic affairs,” Cappelli said at the pro-government event in Brasília.
