Mercadante laments the death of Samuel Pinheiro Guimarães: "fundamental for building a proud and active foreign policy"
"I express my solidarity with all family and friends," says a statement signed by the president of BNDES.
247 - President of the Aloizio Mercadante, head of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), lamented the death of Ambassador Samuel Pinheiro Guimarães, aged 84, in Brasília, this Monday (29).
"I received with deep sadness the news of the death of Ambassador and former Minister Samuel Pinheiro Guimarães, at the age of 84. We were together during Lula's first two governments, when Samuel was Minister-Chief of Strategic Affairs and Secretary-General of Itamaraty. During that historic period, under the leadership of President Lula, Samuel's strategic work, in partnership with then-Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, was fundamental to building a assertive and active foreign policy in which Brazil became a leader in the Global South. In this moment of grief, I express my solidarity with all the family and friends of Samuel Pinheiro Guimarães," says a note published by Mercadante.
Samuel Pinheiro Guimarães was Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from January 9, 2003, until October 20, 2009, during which time he was the number 2 to the then Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim.