Brazil-U.S. Relations Strained as Bolsonaro Sentenced to Prison

Two years after leaving office, former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is still at the center of a major political crisis threatening Brazil’s democracy. After losing the 2022 election to left-wing candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro has faced growing investigations for various reasons, including claims of conspiracy, trying to stage a coup, and working with military leaders to overturn the election. The affair reached a turning point on January 8, 2023, when Bolsonaro (who was in Florida at the time) used social media to encourage his supporters to riot and storm key government buildings in Brasília, the capital.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, rose to power in 2018 on a wave of populist rhetoric and widespread frustration with traditional politics. During his presidency from 2019 to 2022, he often clashed with courts, questioned Brazil’s electoral system, and downplayed the COVID-19 pandemic, which killed over 700,000 people in the country.

Upon losing the presidential election, Bolsonaro refused to accept the results, claiming the election was rigged while working with military officials on a plot to stay in power.

After being placed under house arrest in August, government and media-led investigations slowly uncovered more details about the scheme, including plans to assassinate President Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes in an operation codenamed “Green and Yellow Dagger.”

Finally, on September 12, 2025, five judges on Brazil’s Supreme Court found him guilty of plotting a military coup and sentenced him to 27 years in prison. Bolsonaro, who didn’t attend the trial’s final stages, said he was the victim of political persecution.

Donald Trump, another conservative president who has dealt with legal woes relating to attempted insurrections in the past, imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports in July 2025, weeks before Bolsonaro’s arrest, and called the trial a “witch hunt.” These decisions, which come at a time when China has been increasing its efforts to ally itself with the country more than ever, are a heavy blow to U.S.-Brazil relations.

Trump also alleges that Brazil’s current president is attempting to stifle and censor U.S. firms, possibly relating to when Brazilian courts enacted a brief ban on X in 2024. Lula responded that Brazil had a right to monitor the use of the internet inside its borders and denied that American companies were being persecuted.

The political fight surrounding Bolsonaro shows no signs of ending soon. His prison sentence, along with rising tensions between Brazil and the U.S., has only made the country more divided.

With global powers like China watching closely, Brazil’s future now depends on whether its democracy can hold strong or if more unrest is still to come.