“I open the door. I am the heart, but you are the brain,” said Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, currently on leave, to influencer Paulo Figueiredo in a video published last Tuesday, May 27, on Figueiredo’s YouTube channel. The statement refers to the actions that have been taking in the United States to push for sanctions against Brazilian authorities and institutions. “You, Paulo, have contributed a lot,” praised Jair Bolsonaro’s son.
Paulo Figueiredo is the grandson of General João Figueiredo, the last president in the military dictatorship era (1964-1981). He is also a former business partner of Donald Trump, and a member of the most radical wing of Bolsonarism. Figueiredo has become Eduardo Bolsonaro’s main ally in the international campaign against Brazilian Supreme Court justices, especially Alexandre de Moraes, who leads the case against former president Jair Bolsonaro for a coup attempt.
In March 2024, he said on his YouTube channel that he began visiting the U.S. Congress right after the 2022 presidential elections “in search of support.” Figueiredo is campaigning in the U.S. against the Brazilian Supreme Court while also being under investigation in Brazil for spreading disinformation. He has also been formally charged by the Attorney General’s Office for attempting a coup, with a request for pretrial detention still pending. Figueiredo’s cases are under the oversight of Justice Moraes.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, meanwhile, is under investigation for coercion and obstruction of justice after the Attorney General’s Office accused him of trying to interfere in the criminal case against his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, and “disrupt the technical work” of the disinformation case.
The Congressman took a leave of absence from office on March 20, 2024, after deciding to live in the U.S. for an indefinite period. He is currently based in Texas.
The request to investigate the son of former president Bolsonaro came after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated during a hearing in the Capitol on May 21 that he was considering applying sanctions against Justice Alexandre de Moraes under the Magnitsky Act.
The statement was made in response to a question from Republican Representative Cory Mills about the possible application of the act, which provides for economic sanctions against individuals involved in human rights violations or corruption.
“Would you consider sanctioning Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes under the Magnitsky Act?” Mills asked. Rubio replied: “That is under review, and there’s a strong possibility that it could happen.”
Pública asked Figueiredo how a possible U.S. move against Brazil’s judiciary might affect the cases he faces. “There is no impact whatsoever, as I’m not responding to any charges,” he stated.
“I have not been formally served in any case and have only learned of the accusations through the media, which already demonstrates a lack of due process. I have been legally residing and conducting my activities in the U.S for over ten years, at an address known to Brazilian authorities, and I await formal service following international treaties in effect. The repeated violation of U.S. jurisdiction by Justice Moraes — through illegal orders against individuals protected by that jurisdiction — is precisely one of the grounds for our actions in pursuit of international sanctions,” he responded.
The meeting that preceded the speech against Moraes
One week before the hearing, Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) — who chairs the Intelligence and National Security Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee — had met with Paulo Figueiredo, Eduardo Bolsonaro, and Congressman Filipe Barros, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Brazil’s House. “This kind of interaction brings real-world results, it doesn’t stay just as word of mouth,” said Eduardo Bolsonaro in a video after the meeting, on May 14.
He also emphasized Mills’s close relationship with Rubio, anticipating what would be said in the May 21 hearing. “It’s worth noting that he [Mills] is someone who engages with the executive branch here in the U.S. It won’t take long for him to meet, including with Secretary of State Marco Rubio,” he said. “I was truly impressed because it was a very objective meeting. And Mills is a congressman familiar with the situation in Brazil, which shows that all this painstaking work — knocking on doors — is already paying off,” added Paulo Figueiredo in the video.
A week later, Rubio once again referred to possible sanctions that could affect Brazil, although he did not mention the country by name. On X, he referred to Latin America, stating that in the region, “in Europe, or anywhere else, the days of passive attitudes toward those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over.”
That same day, in an official statement, he elaborated: “Today I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign nationals responsible for censoring protected expression in the United States. It is unacceptable for foreign authorities to issue or threaten to issue arrest warrants against U.S. citizens or residents for social media posts made on American platforms while physically present on U.S. soil.”
Together in the U.S. Against Brazil
On the same day Mills and Rubio mentioned the possibility of applying the Magnitsky Act against Justice Moraes, Brazilian Congressman Filipe Barros suggested on social media that Rubio’s provocation during the hearing was the result of coordination by Bolsonaro allies.
However, in an interview with Agência Pública, Barros stated that he was “convinced” that Rubio’s remarks were motivated by decisions made by Moraes that affected U.S. citizens and companies. “It’s not a reaction to the January 8th investigation. It’s a reaction to the violations Justice Moraes committed against the rights of American citizens and businesses.”
According to Barros, in the meetings he attended with Mills and with Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), “the overall political context” was discussed. “And I noticed in both conversations their concern with U.S. jurisdiction,” he emphasized.
Pública also found that Filipe Barros, with a delegation of Brazilian lawmakers from the Free Market Parliamentary Front—who were also in the U.S. in early May—met with representatives from SpaceX, the company owned by Elon Musk.
According to a source who participated in the meeting and requested anonymity, there was strong indignation among the American interlocutors: “They’re furious because the Brazilian Supreme Court hit them in the pocket, and they’re not going to let it go. That was the tone of the meeting,” the source reported, referring to the freezing of $3.32 million from the accounts of Starlink and X (formerly Twitter) for noncompliance with Brazilian court orders.
According to this source, while the actions Eduardo Bolsonaro and Paulo Figueiredo pushed carry some influence, “the main dispute for the U.S. government is, in fact, the defense of big techs affected by Moraes’ rulings.”
Heir to Olavo de Carvalho
The idea to use U.S. legislation against Moraes echoes an old idea from the Brazilian far-right ideological guru Olavo de Carvalho, who died in 2022. On August 26, 2020, Carvalho wrote on X: “The Magnitsky Act is the greatest or only hope for a Brazil free from commie-thieves.”
Just over four years later, Figueiredo said in one of his YouTube videos that he is “absolutely thrilled to be carrying forward the ideas of Professor Olavo de Carvalho.”
“Do you think Olavo died? Olavo didn’t die—Olavo lives through us,” he emphasized.
Figueiredo follows a path similar to that of Olavo de Carvalho. Like his mentor, he first gained visibility through mainstream media. While Carvalho began by writing columns for major Brazilian newspapers like Folha de S. Paulo, Figueiredo spent years on the right-oriented radio Jovem Pan network.
According to the charges filed by Brazil’s Attorney General’s Office in the coup plot case, Figueiredo used his space at Jovem Pan and his social media to pressure the Brazilian Army’s leadership to support the coup.
Figueiredo currently hosts a political show on YouTube. He has lived in the U.S. since 2016 and is currently based in Florida. Olavo de Carvalho lived in the U.S. for 17 years. Following further his footsteps, Figueiredo also sells a course on politics and history aligned with far-right ideas, which was offered to seven pro-Bolsonaro congressmen just before Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. “Congratulations to Paulo Figueiredo for his course “The End of America. This commentator is someone who increasingly deserves to be listened to carefully,” wrote Olavo de Carvalho on X on March 23, 2021.
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