Mauro Vieira, Brazil's Foreign Minister, in a 2015 image. Ebrahim Noroozi (AP)
Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira (Rio de Janeiro, 71 years old) is another new/former minister of Brazil.
This career diplomat belongs to the group of veterans with management experience that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 77, has entrusted with the strategic portfolios of his third Cabinet.
Vieira received a group of correspondents this Friday at the Itamaraty palace, the headquarters of Foreign Affairs, from where you can see Congress, attacked by extremist Bolsonarists just five days ago, such as the Presidency and the Supreme Court.
Brazil returns to the world, it wants to be on all stages, to speak to everyone "without ideological discrimination", explains the minister in an interview with EL PAÍS,
The New York Times
,
The Guardian
,
The Washington Post
and
The Nation
.
Vieira describes the serious incidents on Sunday, for which almost 1,200 people are in prison, as "an insurrection against the results of the polls."
“There is no doubt about the legitimacy of the election of President Lula”, he stresses.
He is aware that there were security breaches, but stresses that order was immediately restored.
Asked about the chances that the most radical followers of the former president, Jair Bolsonaro, will once again carry out an attack of this caliber, he affirms: "I think that the way in which the government reacted will discourage any type of new adventure, because the punishments will be every more severe if it happens again.
I hope you have realized that the government is not joking.
These are strong, firm measures, in accordance with the law.”
He is convinced that, despite the image damage,
The foreign minister has undertaken, at Lula's request, a radical transformation of diplomatic relations and is preparing the president's first trips.
The first destination, the next day 23, Buenos Aires, as dictated by tradition that his predecessor broke.
At the beginning of February, he made an official visit to Washington to meet President Joe Biden.
And then to Beijing;
if possible, in the first quarter of 2023.
Vieira says that when he found out about the attack, the priority was to reinforce security.
“Itamaraty is a museum in terms of works of art.
We multiplied the number of security agents by five ”, he affirms.
Reflecting the alert situation, the palace is still surrounded by fences despite the fact that the area has already reopened to traffic.
Bolsonaro has been in Florida for two days before the end of his term.
He therefore lost parliamentary immunity from him on 1 January.
The foreign minister explains that for the moment the investigations into the coup assault have not led to any petition to his department regarding the former president.
"If there are formal accusations by the Federal Police, arrest warrants or someone who must answer does not show up, Itamaraty is the body to process extradition requests at the request of justice."
Suspicion flies over Bolsonaro, but the investigations will tell.
Vieira experienced firsthand the traumatic departure of the Workers' Party from power, in 2016 with the
impeachment
of President Dilma Rousseff, and the reprisals of the Bolsonaro government.
Foreign Minister in the abrupt end of Rousseff, after being ambassador in Washington, Buenos Aires and the UN, Bolsonaro's team exiled him to the legation in Croatia.
One of his last days in Zagreb, he saw the Canarinha being eliminated by the Croats in the World Cup.
The minister insists that, in terms of diplomacy, everything will be different from the previous stage.
He wants to bury the turbulent era of Bolsonaro, who once had a chancellor, Ernesto Araujo, who exuded pride at having turned his homeland into an international pariah.
Lula has ordered the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with the Venezuela of Nicolás Maduro;
Next week the first delegation travels to Caracas with an eye toward reopening the embassy;
First, with a charge d'affaires.
Although Lula's team made efforts for Maduro to attend the inauguration, he ultimately missed the event.
That return of Brazil to the world that Lula proclaimed the night of his electoral victory began with his presence as president-elect at the climate summit in Egypt.
"The president already said in his inauguration speech that climate change, the environment and the preservation of the Amazon will be important elements of Brazilian foreign policy."
Brazil wants to once again be a friend of all, a conciliatory participant in international forums.
After the strong criticism that Lula garnered for saying in an interview with
Time
, when he was still a candidate, that the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, was as responsible for the war as the Russian Vladimir Putin, the chancellor affirms: “We condemn the conquest of territory by force.
President Lula has been very eloquent, saying that we need to foster an environment for negotiation.
We cannot just talk about war and military aid.”
The South American giant intends to contribute "to create conditions for dialogue" with support for initiatives such as a ceasefire, humanitarian or allowing the output of Ukrainian grain.
There is suspicion because in 2014 the Rousseff government abstained at the UN in condemning the Russian annexation of Ukraine and Bolsonaro remained neutral.
Analyzing, evaluating, are expressions repeated by the head of Brazilian diplomacy, who remembers that he returned to this office only 13 days ago.
An example is the trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, signed in 2019 and whose ratification is hindered by environmental issues.
“We have to analyze what was negotiated because it was never disclosed,” he explains.
“We are going to speak with the rest of the ministries, with our Mercosur partners and, later, speak again with the EU.
But there is no doubt that it is an important agreement that will be beneficial for both parties."
At the entrance to the minister's office, the gallery of foreign ministers since the days of the empire is the daily reminder that Brazil has never had a woman in charge of diplomacy.
There is a movement in Itamaraty itself that demanded it.
Vieira has appointed a veteran official as
number two
, but does not confirm whether, as rumored, the embassies in Washington and Buenos Aires will be led by female diplomats.
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