U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar Florida's 27th District | Official U.S. House headshot
U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar Florida's 27th District | Official U.S. House headshot
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairwoman María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) joined Reps. Carlos A. Giménez (R-FL), Rich McCormick (R-GA), and Chris Smith (R-NJ) along with Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) in a letter to State Department Secretary Antony Blinken urging him to cancel or revoke the visas of Brazilian Supreme Court justices who used their positions to silence free speech.
For the last several months, several justices on the Brazilian Supreme Court led by Justice Alexandre de Moraes have led an assault against X (formerly Twitter) and several conservative politicians, culminating in a nationwide ban of the network and all Brazilian citizens from using it. This is a direct violation of the principle of freedom of speech, and the United States government must not reward those public officials responsible with the ability to enjoy our freedoms here.
“Justice de Moraes has a well-documented history of curbing free speech, particularly against individuals and groups with conservative political views. His latest actions represent a culmination of a broader pattern of judicial overreach,” wrote the legislators. “We respectfully urge you to deny any application for U.S. visas or admission to the United States, including revoking any existing visas, for Justice Alexandre de Moraes and the other members of the Brazilian Supreme Court complicit in these undemocratic practices.”
On August 30, 2024, Brazilian Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes ended his months-long legal siege against American social network X by banning it from Brazil entirely, leaving millions of Brazilians without access to the app. He also imposed a fine of up to R$50,000 or nearly $9,000 a day for accessing the app through a VPN.
Not long after, the Brazilian government took its war to Elon Musk himself, freezing the accounts of Starlink, a company owned by Musk, in order to coerce him into complying with their unreasonable legal requirements.
Chairwoman Salazar recently joined a hearing examining this very threat to Brazilian democracy and democracy in the region at large. The Chairwoman also introduced legislation to oblige the State Department to do exactly what she is asking of Secretary Blinken: revoke the visas of de Moraes and other anti-free speech government officials around the world.
Congresswoman Salazar represents thousands of Brazilian-Americans in Florida’s 27th Congressional District and is a defender of free speech across the globe.
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