Latin American politicians and media outlets commented on Friday following the news of former U.S. President Donald Trump being found guilty Thursday on all 34 counts in his Manhattan business records trial.
While most regional heads of state have not issued any kind of public comment on Trump’s conviction at press time, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele appeared to reference the situation with a social media post minutes after the news of the conviction broke, which simply read, “Maginot Line,” referring to the defensive barrier that France built in the 1930s that, while considered impervious to most attacks, was ultimately outflanked by Germany in 1940.
The Maginot Line is often used as a term to describe strategies that inspire a false sense of security. Bukele has not, at press time, clarified what exactly his message meant or even if it had anything to do with Trump.
Maginot Line…
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) May 30, 2024
Telesur — a left-wing propaganda network largely funded by the authoritarian regimes of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua — opted to emphasize in its report that Trump had become “the first president of the United States of America to be convicted of criminal charges in a fiscal trial.” Telesur claimed that the charges against Trump were allegedly part of an “illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election and an illegal plan to suppress negative information about the candidate to voters.”
In Brazil, neither current far-left President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — himself a convicted felon — nor his predecessor, former conservative President Jair Bolsonaro, have issued a public statement or comment. Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Brazilian Sen. Eduardo Bolsonaro, published an artificial intelligence-translated Portuguese version of the brief remarks Trump gave shortly after the verdict came down.
“Seventy-two [sic] years old with no criminal record. But all he had to do to run for president was receive tons of lawsuits,” the message accompanying the translated video read. “The only trial that matters is the one at the polls on November 5.”
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G1, part of the Brazilian Globo media conglomerate, remarked that, based on the opinion of U.S. analysts, it is unlikely that Trump will go to jail. G1 reporters expressed the belief that Trump’s status as a convict for a non-violent crime, his age of 77, and the fact that he is a former president and could be president again may mitigate the impact of his July 11 sentence.
Brazilian left-wing newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo opted to publish a Portuguese language translated version of an opinion piece that the New York Times published on Thursday that said the guilty conviction may make no difference to Trump, noting that while the outcome would signify a “political death” to anyone else, the conviction has the potential to benefit the former president in the 2024 presidential race.
Brazilian newspaper Estadao described Trump’s conviction as an “ingredient” for a more chaotic scenario than the 2020 presidential race. The report argued that the drafters of the 1776 constitution “demanded little” of presidential candidates and that “they did not foresee that at some point a convicted person could have a chance of winning.”
Brazil has had seven constitutions since its founding in 1822. The current version was adopted in 1988.
“With this, we have a problematic panorama on the horizon. Trump’s conviction will mobilize both party bases. Republicans, outraged, promise to go to the polls en masse,” Estadao contended. “Democrats, fearing the return of a former president who talks about ‘revenge and retribution’, will begin to think about closing ranks around Biden.”
Cubadebate, a propaganda outlet run by Cuba’s communist Castro regime, claimed that Trump’s conviction “may reduce” his vote count in the November 5 election but nevertheless stated that Trump leads the electoral race polls in several states.
“At the same time, it should be noted that the verdict will not prevent him from continuing his campaign as the Republican Party candidate for president, even if he is sentenced to prison before the election,” Cubadebtate stated. “The Constitution sets very few eligibility requirements for presidents, such as that they be at least 35 years old and be U.S. citizens who have lived in the country for 14 years.”
“Thus, neither the jury’s decision nor a prison sentence would affect Trump’s ability to compete or his eligibility for the presidency. After all, if he wins the election, he could even be sworn in from prison,” the outlet continued.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
