Brazil’s Supreme Court is examining one of its top justice’s ties to a jailed banker, in a crisis that has eclipsed the country’s presidential election campaign, with his trial being broadcast live on television and YouTube.
Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, considered one of the most powerful figures in Brazil, led the coup trial that convicted and imprisoned former president Jair Bolsonaro in 2025, and has now been linked to a fraud case involving the recently-arrested banker, Daniel Vorcaro.
The arrest of Vorcaro is ensnaring judges, lawmakers and even presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, because Vorcaro financed the Jim Caviezel biopic, 'Dark Horse' about Flávio's father.
Official Speech by Flávio Bolsonaro
Sisters and brothers, I am interrupting the election campaign at this moment in the face of the seriousness of everything that is happening. Our destiny is much more important than any political issue.
Brazil is being wiped out. The current government has created an institutional crisis. It decided to govern alongside a part of the Supreme Court that broke the law.
This is not happening for no reason. We cannot deny that the current government is part of a system that is rotten. And this rotten system is revealing itself to the eyes of the entire nation.
I want to do more than just criticize. I want to show a path forward. It is not time for resentment. It is time to have hope. It is time to change Brazil for the better.
First, by fighting organized crime. The PCC, the Red Command and the militias, in my government, will be declared Narco-Terrorist Organizations.
We will return the most important sovereignty, the sovereignty of public security. Second, we will make a government in which the interest rates will plummet, and the debt, too. The people are in debt, because the government is in debt. The debt of the families is the responsibility of the government.
We will change this country, take the Brazilian people out of this ordeal and strengthen our democracy. Because the only way to democracy is with a sovereign people.
I have already proposed an end to multiple terms. I will not be a candidate for re-election. My only commitment will be to fix the country. This is my mission.
Multiple terms have bogged us down, because many presidents thought about themselves first, and only afterwards about Brazil.
I think, and I will always think about Brazil, because no president can judge himself to be more important than the people.
But it is important to issue a warning. In this final stretch of the campaign, despair struck on the other side. They have already gone low and accused me of a lot of lies. They want to make up scandals to hide the true scandal of the country.
It is sad, but there is no way not to say it: The current president divided his power with Alexandre de Moraes and in the end, Brazil was left without a president. Without leadership.
As absurd as it is, Alexandre de Moraes’ scandal is the least of it. The real scandal is not being able to walk down the street, out of fear for one’s safety
The real scandal is so many people in debt and unable to pay the bills. The real scandal is seeing the shopping cart increasingly empty.
Whenever they attack me, it is because they want to escape the shame of assuming the disappointment they caused the Brazilian people, who were deceived by a picanha that never arrived [This refers to one of Lula’s key campaign slogans, that low-income families would regain the purchasing power to consume higher-quality beef].
We needed to go through all this to feel in our soul the pain of having been deceived by a government that made the poor poorer, that empowered crime and that divided the Brazilian people.
Despite the suffering, the good news is that this time of misery is ending. New times are coming. Brazil is without a president, but it is for a short time. A new president is coming.
And I want to give a message of hope. It’s always darkest before the dawn. God will guide us and Brazil will get out of this.
Every day, I will dedicate myself even more and at the end of my government, Brazil will be much better than it is today.
Our democracy will be much stronger than it is today. The life of Brazilians will be much better than it is today. Because what matters is a better Brazil.
And that’s what will happen if we change direction.
May God bless us.
Brazil will win.