John McEvoy discusses the UK's shady interests in Brazil during the coup and Bolsonaro's presidency.

Article of John McEvoy* originally published in Declassified UK 9/29/22. Translated and adapted by Rubens Turkienicz exclusively for Brasil 247.

In September 2022, a documentary titled "The Boys from Brazil: Rise of the Bolsonaros" aired on the BBC. The three-part series, released in conjunction with PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) in the US, documents the rise of Brazil's far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro – an obscure figure from the era of... military dictatorship who won the country's presidential elections in 2018.

"Jair Bolsonaro is one of the most controversial leaders in the world," begins the... documentary"As an ardent admirer of Brazil's military dictatorship, Bolsonaro came to power determined to revive its policies to exploit the Amazon – at any cost."

The documentary was released shortly before Brazilians went to the polls on October 2nd – with former president and Workers' Party candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the favorite. [The numbers and the last sentence appear to be unrelated and possibly from a different source.] concerns Regarding whether Bolsonaro would accept an electoral defeat if he loses at the ballot box.

While the documentary showcases voices critical of the Bolsonaro regime, it omits a crucial detail of clear interest to the British public – the UK government's secret dealings with the Bolsonaros.

Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act offer details of British collaboration with Brazil's far right and show how Bolsonaro's Brazil represented an opportunity for UK businesses.

Bolsonaro's rise to power

Bolsonaro came to power in 2018 in a far-right ticket defending violence against their political opponents, if compromising to take land away from indigenous peoples, romanticizing the military dictatorship in Brazil and idolizing their chief torturers and promising A new Brazil based on "law and order".

His election was also coupled with a series of anti-democratic maneuvers.

In 2016, President Dilma Rousseff was overthrow in a "soft" coup and was replaced by Michel Temer – who imposed crushing austerity measures, while opening the country to foreign investmentsespecially those of oil sector.

In April 2018, Lula – the favorite to win the 2018 presidential elections – was arrested in a way that... illegal following an “anti-corruption” investigation sponsored by the USA known as Operation Lava Jet.

With Lula in jail and the Workers' Party in disarray, Bolsonaro won the 2018 presidential elections, immediately appointing the judge corrupt responsible for Lula's imprisonment as his Minister of Justice.

During the following four years, Brazil would become a bonfire of human rights, with the indigenous communities describing Bolsonaro's decision to open the Amazon to the interests of agribusiness, mining, and logging companies was seen as a "declaration of extermination."

Great Britain and the Bolsonaros

There are documents that reveal that senior British officials met with the Bolsonaros in the months leading up to the 2018 elections in Brazil.

On April 10, 2018, a few days after Lula's arrest, the UK ambassador to Brasília, Vijay Rangarajan, met with Bolsonaro, his son, Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, and an advisor whose name is unknown – one name remains secret.

It is clear whether the support The debate centered on Jair Bolsonaro, the military dictatorship, and decades of discrimination against women, homosexuals, and indigenous peoples was held, but the UK Foreign Office refuses to release any further details about the meeting.

Notably, the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury and current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss, has arrived to Brazil on April 9th ​​for promote "Free trade, free markets and post-Brexit opportunities." Documents obtained by 'Declassified' reveal Truss met with Rangarajan at the British embassy in Brasilia on April 10 – the same day Rangarajan met with the Bolsonaros.

However, it remains unclear whether Truss also met with the Bolsonaros, or if his meetings with the same people on the same day were an unlikely coincidence.

The British Treasury did not respond to questions concerning Truss and the Bolsonaros.

The remainder of Truss's visit to Brazil included meetings with Brazilian ministers and officials on matters that included "privatizations." In one of Truss's report notes, it is written that there is a new "interest in the open market" in Brazil, which "has enormous oil and gas reserves."

Trus also visited the Millenium Institute – a think tank co-founded in 2005 by the "Chicago boy". Paulo Guedes, who would become Bolsonaro's finance minister. During Truss's visit, Guedes was already the chief economic advisor Bolsonaro is "a proponent of privatizing government-owned companies and reforming social security."

A number of items discussed by Truss with the Millennium Institute remain classified.

'Strategic partners'

Two months after Truss's visit, Ambassador Rangarajan sent a private letter to Bolsonaro, inviting the presidential candidate to his residence to meet with "Strategic Partners."

This term was a euphemism for the directors of major British corporations in the oil, mining, pharmaceutical, and construction industries – including Anglo-American, BP, Shell, AstraZeneca, Unilever, and JCB.

The letter reads: “Deputy Bolsonaro, it was a great pleasure to meet you and begin our conversation in April of this year. I would like to invite you for breakfast or lunch at my residence with the largest British investors in Brazil, at a time that suits you.”

The meeting will consist of “a maximum total of 20 people, to allow for a fluid discussion.” Rangarajan concludes the letter by saying to Bolsonaro: “I hope to meet you again.”

BP and Shell

Great Britain continued to collaborate with the Bolsonaros after the 2018 election.

On November 14 of that year, Rangarajan and Bolsonaro met again, along with Vice President-elect Hamilton Mourão, General Augusto Heleno (head of the Institutional Security Office), two of Bolsonaro's sons, and unidentified "others."

The UK Foreign Office declined to reveal what was discussed at this meeting, although it is likely that investment prospects for major British multinational companies were addressed again. 

Indeed, Great Britain lobbied the Brazilian government on behalf of BP and Shell in 2017, and Rangarajan met no fewer than 20 times with representatives of both companies during 2018 and 2019.

A visit Truss's schedule also included a meeting with representatives from his former employer, Shell, which... gaba from a “prolific … portfolio” of deepwater oil and gas production in Brazil.

'Reminiscent of Thatcher'

In August 2019, British Minister Conor Burns traveled to Brazil, where he met with Bolsonaro's Minister of Infrastructure, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, praising the Brazilian government's "economic reform agenda," which was "reminiscent of Thatcher's."

In Rio de Janeiro, Burns met with the then-governor of the state and former Bolsonaro ally, Wilson Witzel, whose police had... killed 881 people between January and July of that year – the higher number in almost two decades.

Alarmingly, Burns “emphasized the breadth of British interests” in Rio, adding that the UK “was ready to work together on a range of issues, including security matters,” citing “facial recognition” as an area of ​​UK expertise.

British trade with Brazil improved considerably during Bolsonaro's presidency. In a joint statement issued According to then-Foreign Minister Rishi Sunak and Guedes, total trade between Great Britain and Brazil amounted to £6,5 billion in 2019 – a significant increase of 12,6% over 2018.

The statement goes on to say that both governments had taken “the right steps at the right time to protect livelihoods and jobs from the adverse economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

At that time, more than 181 [*] Brazilians had died from Covid-19 – the second largest number absolute number of victims in the world. Bolsonaro was labeled [Editor's note: Currently, there are more than 680 deaths from Covid-19]. [The article also mentions being labeled "negligently homicidal" by Brazil's most widely read newspaper for its handling of the pandemic.]

In September 2021, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Bolsonaro during a UN Security Council meeting to discuss “trade and security,” among other things, merely a few weeks after the Brazilian leader provoked [a political maneuver]. international concerns that he was preparing to launch a military coup.

The United Kingdom also provided Brazil has received some military training in the last four years, but the Brazilian Ministry of Defense has refused to disclose the costs. declaring doing so “has the potential to adversely affect relations with our allies.”

More recently, Bolsonaro was the only South American political leader to attend the Queen's funeral.

John McEvoy is a freelance journalist who has written for the International History Review, The Canary, Tribune Magazine, Jacobin, and Brasil Wire.