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Is there such a thing as a former intelligence agent? If there is exists, then Mike Benz is an instance, as he worked for the U.S. State Department. And he has gained the attention of Brazilians because, after officially quitting his government job, he opened an NGO in defense of free speech, and is now committed to expose the means by which his former co-workers interfered in Brazil. The revelations are interesting, because it is always good to know the details; however, the big picture is by no means a surprise. It is obvious that the U.S. acts through its umbrella of NGOs to promote politically correct censorship in Brazil. That’s why the most suspicious thing in the world is a former intelligence agent who opens an NGO. It is like retiring from pimping and opening a models agency. Sometimes Elon Musk retweets him.

Another American character who gained spotlights in Brazil is Michael Shellenberger, a journalist and NGO activist who supports free speech and criticizes the green agenda. (Wherever there are NGOs critical of the green agenda, there is likely to be Koch Brothers’ money.) Here in my country, Shellenberger presented Twitter Files Brazil together with Brazilian journalists David Ágape and Eli Vieira Jr (my former colleagues). The Twitter Files consisted of the opening of Twitter documents by Elon Musk in the end of 2022, with the aim of exposing the previous FBI’s interference over the platform. Twitter Files Brazil appeared in April 2024, more than a year later, and were dedicated to expose justice Alexandre de Moraes. A similarity between the United States and Brazil is that Twitter Files, despite its relevance, were only taken seriously by right-wing outlets and congressmen.

During Twitter Files Brazil, I discussed with friends what could be point of U.S. in it. The common opinion, expressed by the Brazilian media as well, was that the Trumpists wanted to use Brazil as a Democrat bogeyman: they would show the censorship imposed on us by their government and argue that, if the Democrats remained in power, soon the same would happen to the USA. There is undoubtedly true in it (see Shellenberger’s video in English, announcing that he is coming to Brazil to protest on September 7). But there is also an evident movement on the Brazilian right (especially the liberal one) to imitate the Venezuelan opposition and call for sanctions against our own country. The most prominent name in this regard is that of deputy Marcel Van Hattem, who is always together with Shellenberger when he is in Brazil, and also meets him abroad, at free speech summits.

Because of this, I always thought that the intention of the U.S. right-wingers, in this movement, is to impose sanctions on Brazil. Now, our agriculture is a strong competitor for the American productive sector. The productive sector tends to support the Republicans and is dissatisfied with the reveries of a Green New Deal. At the same time, right-wing activism in the U.S. is liberal or libertarian, and tends to hold, as articles of faith, beliefs in the free market and free speech. If the USA sanctions Brazil in the sake of free speech, the protectionist nature of their move is hidden from libertarian true believers.

With the banning of X, I grew more sure of it. You can see here Mike Benz asking for sanctions against Brazil. Jordan Peterson and Elon Musk already consider that the banning of X finally makes Brazil a dictatorship (they decided to indicate Justice Moraes and President Lula, in this order, as dictators, although Lula is quiet, and Moraes acts with the consent of his colleagues). What was a rhetorical exaggeration by the Brazilian opposition became a speech by bigwigs on the American right. How do Americans deal with dictatorships? Through sanctions.

But it’s hard to know if that’s the whole story. After Elon Musk closed X representation in Brazil in order to flee the grasp of our mad Supreme Court, Moraes seized Starlink Brazilian bank accounts. As Mike Benz correctly pointed out (in the same video I linked), the normal thing would be that the United States government defend the interests of its citizens. For much less, other countries took sanctions. So this is only happening with the connivance of the U.S. Benz wants us to believe that there is a deep and real opposition between Democrats and Republicans, which would cause a Trumpist businessman to be chased by Brazil with the government’s consent. I don’t believe that – because Musk’s companies have close relations with the government.

I believe that now no one can know, from the outside, what is happening. This is smelling a rat.