Those who conspire with Trump against Brazil must be exposed and punished, says Celso de Mello

Retired Supreme Court Justice Celso de Mello criticized the U.S. government's decision , announced last Friday, the 18th, to revoke the visas of members of the Court. He also said it was necessary to identify, expose, and punish those conspiring against the country.

It's impossible, Mello stated, to minimize the "extremely delicate situation" facing Brazil and its democratic institutions. He emphasized that this isn't an "economic-tariff" issue , but a deliberate attack on the country, "associated with both the Bolsonaro far-right and the international far-right, in true and blatant coordination with ' big tech .'"

In a statement, the retired magistrate referred to followers of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) as “ quislings ,” a term used in Scandinavian languages and English to describe a citizen or politician from an occupied country who collaborates with an enemy occupying force.

“More than ever, and due to recent events (among which, the episode of visa revocation), it becomes necessary to identify, expose and punish , in accordance with the law and respecting the right to ' due process of law ', the national ' quislings ' who, resentful, stripped of any dignity and devoid of any patriotic feeling of respect and appreciation for our Country, act, insidiously or explicitly, against the superior interests of Brazil and its people (…)”

The objective, he added, is to subject Brazil, its values and traditions “to the domination of foreign powers, seeking to reduce Brazil to the inferior and degrading condition of a simple colony.”

Initially, the Trump administration's decision suspends the visas of ministers Alexandre de Moraes, Luís Roberto Barroso (president), Edson Fachin (vice president), Dias Toffoli, Cristiano Zanin, Flávio Dino, Cármen Lúcia and Gilmar Mendes.

At least for now, Ministers André Mendonça, Kassio Nunes Marques, and Luiz Fux are not on the list. Attorney General Paulo Gonet is on the list and is expected to lose his visa.