Brazil will once again play a leading international role, promises the new Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.
"The good news, as President Lula has said, is that Brazil is back. There is a clear global demand for Brazil," he said.
BRASILIA (Reuters) - In a nearly 40-minute speech at his inauguration ceremony, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, made it clear that the foreign policy of Jair Bolsonaro's government was over and promised Brazil's return to international prominence.
In the presence of former Foreign Minister Carlos França, Vieira indicated that Brazil will resume its traditional human rights policy, return to a leading role in international forums, and reinvest in regional relations.
“We have been sidelined from the international scene in recent years due to a limiting ideological vision. With common sense, hard work, and dedication, we will regain our place,” stated the new minister.
Over the past four years, Brazil has distanced itself from traditional international positions, ranging from advocating for a two-state solution to the Palestinian situation to defending the rights of women and minorities and acting in favor of immigrants.
In international forums and at the United Nations (UN), the country aligned itself with nations such as Saudi Arabia, for example, against policies on reproductive rights. For the first time, it voted with the United States against condemning the embargo on Cuba. It abandoned regional forums and the priority of relations with countries like Argentina, and created problems in its relations with China, France, and Germany, among others.
These are positions that Vieira made clear will be abandoned with the return of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to power.
"We will have to rebuild damaged bilateral relations and resume a constructive leading role in international forums and organizations where we have a unique contribution to offer," he stated.
"Brazil will be a reliable partner, an indispensable actor, a leader and a positive force in favor of a more balanced, rational, just and peaceful world," he added. "Brazil will realign its foreign policy on human rights with the parameters of the Federal Constitution and international human rights law, especially in promoting gender equality; combating discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity; promoting racial equality and combating racism and xenophobia; and defending the rights of indigenous peoples."
Soon after taking office, Vieira instituted three changes in areas that had been relegated to the background in the previous government: he recreated the Secretariats of Environment and Climate Change, which had been downgraded to a department; of Africa and the Middle East, which had been merged with that of Europe; and of Consular Services, which was placed as a department within the Secretariat of Political Affairs.
Three areas have been identified as priorities for the new minister. Vieira, who appointed a woman to the General Secretariat of Itamaraty for the first time, Ambassador Maria Laura da Rocha, also touched on a sensitive point for the management of the chancellery: the small number of black people and women in general in the career -- they represent only 27% of diplomats -- and even fewer in the highest positions.
The minister himself was criticized for promoting few women during his first stint as foreign minister. Now, he has pledged to adopt policies that increase the inclusion of Black people and women in the profession.
“The chronic underrepresentation of Black people and women distances the profile of Brazilian diplomacy from the society it represents. To progressively reverse this situation, I will instruct the State Secretariat to develop a diversity and inclusion policy at Itamaraty,” he said.
IMPEACHMENT
Mauro Vieira, 71, returns to the top of his diplomatic career almost seven years after leaving office following the impeachment of then-President Dilma Rousseff in May 2016.
The ambassador was Dilma's third foreign minister, and he mentioned Dilma's impeachment in his speech upon returning to the helm of Itamaraty (the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
“It is not common for us to be given a second chance to do something that was abruptly and involuntarily interrupted. In May 2016, I left the position to which I am now returning, amidst a painful impeachment process that fractured the country and left deep scars,” he recalled.
"I would like to reiterate my gratitude to President Dilma Rousseff, the first woman to hold the Presidency of our country, for the trust she placed in me during that period, and I regret that we were unable to complete the tasks we had set ourselves in foreign policy."
In a hall packed with guests, especially diplomats, Mauro Vieira received a standing ovation from an Itamaraty (Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs) that, for the past four years, has survived practically excluded from the main government decisions, executing a foreign policy that ended up distancing the country from the center of the international political scene.
"The good news, as President Lula has said, is that Brazil is back. There is a clear global demand for Brazil," he stated.
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