Politicization at Foreign Affairs Ministry isolates Brazil
Jair Bolsonaro’s four years have plunged Brazil into a level of isolation unheard of in the recent history of the country. The foreign policy has been marked by former chancellor Ernesto Araújo, a diplomat who was elevated to the command of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, known as Itamaraty, and who led the anti-globalism agenda responsible for relegating Brazil to an international pariah — a position of which he said he was proud.Mr. Araújo was in charge of the ministry for two years and four months and only lost his job because Mr. Bolsonaro was pressured by Centrão, a cluster of right-center parties, in the Congress, worried by the ex-chancellor’s rhetoric about agribusiness exports agenda. In a pragmatic choice, the president nominated Carlos França as his substitute, who arrived at the command of Brazilian diplomacy without ever having led an embassy.During his term, Mr. Bolsonaro visited Russia, India, and China, three members of the BRICS, but gave more space to countries then governed by the far right, such as Hungary and Poland. In Russia, he met Vladimir Putin days before the invasion of Ukraine and even suggested that he could have interfered to prevent war.At the regional level, he has mistreated the presidents of Brazil’s most important neighbors, such as Argentina, Chile, and Colombia. His isolation was also evident in the main global summits when he was frequently seen talking to security guards and eating in street restaurants.In the very first months of his government, Mr. Bolsonaro promoted an automatic alignment with the White House, at the time presided by the Republican Donald Trump. On one of his first international trips, in March 2019, he hosted a dinner at the Brazilian Embassy in Washington that was attended by philosopher Olavo de Carvalho, who died earlier this year and is considered the ideological mentor of Bolsonarism and, in particular, of Mr. Araújo.Among the diners was also Steve Bannon, Mr. Trump’s former strategist and currently convicted of participation in the Capitol attacks. Months after the dinner, during the UN General Assembly in New York, Mr. Bolsonaro verbalized his feelings: "I love you, Trump," he stated.In another attempt to mimic the American one — and also to please the evangelical public — Mr. Bolsonaro announced the transfer to Jerusalem of the Brazilian Embassy in Israel. The then Prime Minister of Israel, Benyamin Netanyahu, who is now back in office, attended Bolsonaro’s inauguration. The...
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