Jamil Chad Lula government to reopen embassies closed by Bolsonaro and expand their posts 12/01/2022 04h00

The future government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) wants to reopen Brazilian embassies that Jair Bolsonaro (PL) closed over the past four years and will consider establishing new diplomatic posts in places where the country is not yet present. .

This statement was made by former Chancellor and Defense Minister Celso Amorim, who is said to have played a central role in the design of Lula’s foreign policy. The diplomat is part of the transit group in Itamaraty.

In 2020, Brazilian representative offices opened in the cities of Freetown (Sierra Leone) and Monrovia (Liberia) by the first Lula government in the African continent were closed and their services were transferred to the Brazilian embassy in Accra (Ghana). . Now the idea is to continue working in these places and also think about countries like Rwanda and Gambia.

Embassies in the Caribbean cities of Saint George’s (Granada), Roseau (Dominica), Basseterre (Saint Kitts and Nevis), Kingstown (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), and Saint John (Antigua and Barbuda) ceased to exist in 2009. 2020 and fulfilled his accumulated duties at the Brazilian representation in Bridgetown (Barbados).

In South America, the Brazilian embassy in Caracas and consulates and consular posts across Venezuela will also reopen. In the case of Venezuela, the shutdown was due to a political decision by the most radical wing of Bolsonarism, which had decided to leave the Nicolas Maduro government.

But the decision has left hundreds of Brazilians living in Venezuela unassisted and unhelpful for bureaucratic procedures today. They had to go as far as Colombia if they wanted to vote in the presidential election.

Before Bolsonaro won the 2018 election, Brazil had about 140 representations abroad. However, he stated that he would close the “inactive” embassies before he took office.

But Brazil’s withdrawal from various regions did not happen only because of the closure of embassies. In the few missions that were not seen as a priority across the continents, Itamaraty often did not even send instructions to his diplomats in Brazilian embassies.

Especially in Itamaraty, in the first three years of Bolsonaro’s government led by Ernesto Araújo, Brazil left a part of its agenda with developing countries and intensified its relations with either Donald Trump’s USA or governments led by the extreme right.

Speaking at the Brazilian African Forum 2022 in São Paulo this Wednesday, Amorim made it clear that the African continent “will be Lula’s priority”. “Brazil will return to the world and to Africa,” he insisted.

In addition to embassies, Brazil will reopen military attaché posts in deemed strategic locations across the continent.

Amorim recalled that during the first four months of Lula’s government, the Chancellor had visited five African countries. The then-president made 30 trips to Africa in eight years, while the Amorim made 67 missions to the continent. “Brazil is part of Africa. There is no way to separate it,” he said.