Brazilian government replaces the Brazilian ambassador in Washington

The current ambassador will take over the second highest position in the country’s Ministry of External Affairs.

Sérgio Dávila-Folha de São Paulo, 09/29/09

The replacement is motivated by the retirement of Samuel Pinheiro Guimarães, who currently holds the position; Suspicions are that either Vera Machado or Mauro Viera will be sent to replace current Ambassador, Antonio Patriota, in the Embassy in Washington.

The Ambassador of Brazil in Washington, DC, Antonio Patriota, will return to Brasília in the few next weeks to accept the position of Secretary General of Foreign Affairs of Itamaraty–the highest ranking position in the Brazilian diplomatic career, and the second highest in the hierarchy of Brazilian Chancellery.

The substitute for Patriota in the United States capital has not yet been determined, however the most likely candidates are Vera Machado, currently Sub-secretary of Political Affairs, or Mauro Viera,  Brazilian Ambassador to Argentina. The United States and Argentina are considered to be two of the most important posts in Brazilian diplomacy.

Pinheiro Guimarães leaves the position after turning seventy in October, which is the age limit for people working in the Itamaraty foreign affairs career. It has been said that he might take over the direction of the Secretary of Strategic Matters for the President, currently occupied by an interim, Daniel Vargas, however, nothing has been officially confirmed by the Brazilian government.

Sought after by Folha de São Paulo for comments, the Ambassador, Antonio Patriota, did not answer any phone calls. Patriota, 55, was the youngest diplomat to receive the position of Ambassador in Washington, DC, in 2007. Because of his connections with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he was seen as a favorite in the Brazilian Chancellery for Pinheiro Guimarães’s position.

In the two years that he spent in Washington, Patriota witnessed the transition of the government from George W. Bush (2001-2009) to the democrat Barack Obama. Patriota has a good relationship with the State Department’s current top choice for the United States Ambassador position in Brasília.

Shannon has still not been confirmed by the senate due to the retaliation on behalf of the group of Republicans who disagreed with the White House’s condemnation of the coup in Honduras.

Vera Machado, 63, who substituted Patriota as the Sub-Secretary of Political Matters, has been the Ambassador to India (1999) and to the Vatican (2004). She was in Washington in 1986. If confirmed, she will be the first women in command of the Embassy.

Mauro Vieira, Ambassador in Argentina since 2004, was the head of Celso Amorim’s cabinet. What instigates this dance of musical chairs is the retirement of Pinheiro Guimarães, linked to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and considered to be one of the most active members of the PT in the tall scale of diplomats.

U.S.- Brazil Relations:

Brasilia changes its guard in Washington at a very delicate moment in the relations between the two countries. In the last days, tension has grown between the U.S. and Brazil as a result of the situation in Honduras. On Friday, the U.S. Ambassador, together with the Organization of American States (OAS), Susan Rice, refused the Celso Amorim’s request to use stronger language condemning  the threats by the Honduran de facto government to the Embassy of Brazil in Tegucigalpa, where Manuel Zelaya is staying. The crisis followed another recent polemic situation, when it was leaked to the public that the U.S. and Colombia reached an agreement to increase North American military presence in Colombia–an agreement that caused negative backlash between the South American neighbors, and at the forefront of this backlash was President Lula.

Lastly, to this day Obama has not been able to approve his appointee for Assistant Secrety of State for the Western Hemisphere, the academic Arturo Valenzuela, who, like Shannon, has his named blocked by the republican opposition.

Read original article in Portuguese here.