Transition in Brazil: who is Mauro Vieira, Lula da Silva’s future foreign minister?

After weeks of mystery and meetings and negotiations secret or not, the president-elect of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, revealed this Friday the first names of those who will accompany him in his government, starting from January 1st. Among these, the future foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, a veteran diplomat well known in Argentina.

Vieira arrives in Itamaraty under the patronage of former Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who will continue as special adviser to the presidency for international affairs, eventually leading the ministry’s strategic affairs secretary.

Vieira, regarded as a diplomat with political experience, an extensive network of contacts and recognized loyalty to Lula da Silva, even during the times the PT leader was in prison, is currently ambassador to Croatia. Before He occupied the diplomatic posts in Buenos Aires and Washington.

With this appointment, the ambassador returns to the position he held between 2015 and 2016 during Dilma Rousseff’s second term, which culminated in the impeachment that overthrew the president, by the Workers’ Party itself.

The challenges

The newspaper Folha de São Paulo he stressed this Friday that it will be the mission of this veteran diplomat restore Brazil’s international image“relegated to pariah status during the government of Jair Bolsonaro due to setbacks in the environment and the ultra-conservative turn promoted by former Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo”.

Also for attitudes of the outgoing president himself, for example “support for Vladimir Putin on a visit to Russia a few days before the start of the war in Ukraine or for having insulted Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France”.

This in the midst of an increasingly complex geopolitical scenario, in which a conflict unfolds on European territory and tensions between China and the United States intensify, as well as crises in the region.

The same newspaper quotes Roberto Abdenur, with a 45-year career in the area, who underlined how the novelty is “an excellent solution for Itamaraty” and a “quality diplomat”.

He highlighted the credentials of the new foreign minister: Vieira held the three most important positions of his diplomatic career, the embassies in Washington and Buenos Aires and at the UN in New York.

Abdenur also says he will be able to help rebuild Brazil’s reputation after what he describes as near-destructive management over the past four years.

“There were two theories about how and when Brazil could regain its credibility. One of them said it would take years. I think we can get back to the top quickly. And this has already begun,” said Abdenur, who is also a consultant at the Brazilian Center for International Relations (Cebri).

Vieira, in his second stint in the chancellery, will certainly have it a much more intense task compared to the previous chapter. During the administration with Rousseff due to a series of circumstances, and also due to the president’s departure from the international question, the foreign ministry’s activity was much more limited than the new president expected.

Lula has announced a strong international activity that will start immediately after taking office with an official visit to the White House for a meeting with President Joe Biden. Also in January, the new president will arrive in Argentina, Brazil’s central partner.

Source: Clarin newsroom, with information from agencies