Just over a year ago, many Brazilians were surprised by Jair Bolsonaro’s appointment of then Federal Judge Sergio Moro as Minister of Justice and Security. Up until then, the judge who convicted former President Lula da Silva had often said that his vocation was the law and not politics, but he explained his change of heart by asserting that this was a technical position and that there was a need to promote reforms and ensure the continuity of anti-corruption efforts. Moro’s joining the administration lent significant political capital to Bolsonaro, whose approval ratings were consistently lower than those of the former judge. Together with Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, Moro helped to secure the acceptance of the administration by an important segment of Brazil’s middle and upper classes.
After 15 months of a troubled relationship with Bolsonaro, Moro decided to jump off a sinking ship in the midst of institutional pandemonium and one of the country’s worst health and economic crises. According to Moro, his decision was prompted by the President's direct interference in Federal Police investigations that could lead to the criminal prosecution of at least two of his children.
Moro’s political rise goes back to his reputation as a Hercules in rogue and the public’s skepticism toward the partisan political game that led the country to stratospheric levels of corruption, Rousseff’s impeachment, and a political vacuum filled by the election project that resulted in Jair Bolsonaro’s victory in 2018. It is no easy task to explain the elements of this project, but we can summarize it broadly on four pillars:
