Ministers from 5 different governments condemn the foreign policy of Bolsonaro and Ernesto Araújo.
"Irrational," "a disgrace," "a disaster," "subservient," "lunatic," and "generates disrepute"—these were some of the expressions used by ministers from previous governments regarding the current Brazilian foreign policy under the Bolsonaro/Ernesto Araújo administration. One of the most criticized points is the alignment with the USA.
247 - A report by journalist Patrícia Campos Mello in Folha de S.Paulo indicates that three former foreign ministers, a former finance minister and a former secretary of strategic affairs, representing five different Brazilian governments, stated this Tuesday (27) that Brazil's current foreign policy "is irrational, a shame, a disaster, subservient, lunatic and generates disrepute".
The statements were made during a debate hosted by Harvard University's Brazil Conference, which included the participation of former foreign ministers Celso Amorim, Celso Lafer, and Aloysio Nunes Ferreira, former Finance Minister and former ambassador to Washington Rubens Ricupero, and former Special Secretary for Strategic Affairs Hussein Kalout. Despite their differing views, they showed consensus in condemning the foreign policy of Jair Bolsonaro's far-right and pro-American government.
The debaters even joked that they would form a "Ricupero Forum" or "Ricupero Group" to discuss ways to rebuild national foreign policy, uniting representatives from various governments.
According to Celso Lafer, Minister of Foreign Affairs under former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the diplomacy led by Ernesto Araújo is dedicated to "fighting imaginary enemies resulting from a worldview that has little connection with reality." For Lafer, this leads to Brazil's isolation in the world.
According to Celso Amorim, who served as Foreign Minister in the governments of Itamar Franco and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and as Minister of Defense during Dilma Rousseff's administration, the governments represented in the debate had disagreements, but all started from a rational discourse.
Amorim, who during Lula's government established an active and assertive diplomacy, believes that "today there is a total absence of reason in Itamaraty (the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)." The former foreign minister said that in half a century as a diplomat and minister he had never seen anything like it. For him, there is an attack on reason, it's a disaster. The damage being done to Brazil's reputation could not be worse."
Read the full report by Patricia Campos Mello