The government of United States President Donald Trump allocated US$1 million (R$5.2 million) to a project aimed at financing organizations that challenge the actions of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in Brazil. The information is from the British newspaper The Guardian.
Named “Countering Lawfare and Censorship in Brazil”, the project provides that civil society entities that oppose what the White House classifies as “judicial excess” and “censorship” practiced by the STF, will receive resources from the US Department of State.
The resources originate from the Human Rights and Democracy Fund (HRDF), the entity’s main fund and was originally created to finance human rights defenders, victims of violations and initiatives to promote democracy.
The documents analyzed by the Guardian on the topic, do not allow us to know which Brazilian organizations will receive the resources. The report covers the history of sanctions against minister Alexandre de Moraes, highlighting that the allocation of resources to Brazil occurs in the final stretch of the Brazilian presidential elections.
The allocation of the money provoked resistance in the North American country’s Congress. Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, main representative on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, maintained blocks on ten similar financings, totaling US$22 million (R$114.4 million), involving Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria, the United Kingdom and other European countries.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio reacted and signed a memorandum ignoring the blockades. This Wednesday (09/30), hours before the deadline for using the money from the fund expired, the State Department allocated the resources to the beneficiaries.
$176.9 million for conservative projects
The sum allocated to Brazil is part of a total investment of US$176.9 million (R$919.9 million) that the White House intends to make to strengthen conservative and far-right initiatives in different countries.
In total, 43 projects are planned, representing the majority of the US$ 205 million (R$ 1 billion) allocated by the North American Congress to the fund. According to sources interviewed by the newspaper, members of the Trump administration personally lobbied for the approval of some of this financing.
The largest of them is around US$40 million (R$208 million) and will be allocated to a consortium led by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC), an anti-communist organization based in the United States.
Another program, called Promoting Western Civilization Allies, will receive US$2 million (R$10.4 million). According to the document, those responsible will not be able to adhere to what the US government defines as “ideologically instrumentalized” conceptions. Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Balkan countries appear among the possible destinations for the resources.
There is also US$2 million (R$10.4 million) planned for alert networks aimed at protecting Christians in Nigeria and US$1 million (R$5.2 million) for a journalistic consortium that will contest the classification of certain media outlets as “trustworthy” sources.
In the United Kingdom, funding of US$3 million (R$15.6 million) without bidding will be allocated to the Jobs Foundation, an organization run by Matthew Elliott, who led the Vote Leave campaign, in favor of Brexit. The project also aims to promote business-friendly policies and combat what it classifies as excessive regulation, including in areas related to climate standards, says the British newspaper.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
