Brazil trumps U.S. as hemisphere’s diplomatic power
Washington D.C. always called the shots in this hemisphere. That’s no longer true, at least when it comes to diplomacy. In chaos-ridden Honduras, Brazil’s foreign ministry– not the U.S. State Department– has taken the lead in shaping events. While the over-tasked White House mostly stands on the sidelines, Brazil has aggressively backed the Honduran president ousted in the June 28 military coup.
The Monroe Doctrine, dating to the 1820s, has traditionally been interpreted to imply U.S. geopolitical dominance over the rest of the Americas. It is still holds in military terms, but it may need to be modified by a “Brazilian corollary.” When political crises flare– send in the Brazilians, not the Marines.
In recent years, Brazil, also a rising economic and energy power, has repeatedly shown up U.S. diplomats in hemispheric maneuvering. In part that’s because Brazilian diplomats encounter open doors and warm embraces in every capital in the Americas. Unlike Washington D.C., Brazil has maintained cordial and close relations with all the more radical leftist leaders, such as the presidents of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador. So Brazil has been able to position itself as mediator and diplomatic trailblazer again and again.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim (right), with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez
Not only did Brazil help defuse recent crises in Bolivia, and guerrilla-related tensions between Colombia and its neighbors, but it quietly led the charge to have Cuba reinstated in the Organization of American States. Ahead of this year’s Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, white-bearded Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim also mediated between President Obama’s nascent administration and hemispheric antagonists: Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Cuba’s Raúl Castro.
Not surprisingly, when deposed President Manuel Zelaya unexpectedly and secretly returned to Honduras earlier this week, he sought refuge at the Brazilian Embassy, where he knew he would be well-received. Zelaya’s nemesis, Roberto Micheletti, a legislator and businessman who led the June 28 military-civilian coup, responded by surrounding the embassy with troops and demanding Brazil either hand Zelaya over for arrest, or shuttle him back out of the country as an exile. Micheletti’s troops also cleared away Zelaya’s supporters with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Brazil did not give in. Instead, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio da Silva, known by his nickname as “Lula,” forcefully demanded Zelaya’s reinstatement at the United Nations, and urged the Security Council to convene an emergency meeting on Honduras. Lula also said Micheletti should sit down and negotiate with Zelaya. Meanwhile, Zelaya, along with a retinue of bodyguards and advisers, remains refuged at the Brazilian embassy.
It’s true Lula assumed a huge risk stepping so deeply into this mess. If Micheletti doesn’t bend, Lula and his diplomatic corps will lose prestige. In Brazil, critics say Lula has recklessly broken a longstanding Brazilian taboo against meddling in other countries’ internal politics. But whatever the result, it’s Brazil that has taken a stand in Honduras, and seized the diplomatic initiative.
Washington D.C. is somewhere offstage, even though it also has refused to recognize Micheletti’s government and supports a deal by which Zelaya would return to power, with limited authority, until his successor’s chosen in previously scheduled Nov. 29 elections.
Post Your Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment
T/S Members
Log in with your True/Slant account.
When political crises flare– send in the Brazilians, not the Marines.
No Joke; I think you may have just revealed the key to World Peace. Just from the the two years i spent with a roomate from Rio (and by association, 15-20 of his closest friends) i have never met more implicitly trusting, charitable, lovers-of-life in my Midwestern raised white-bread existence.
I’m mentally picturing ‘boa noite’ type celebrations infecting the Taliban, Wall Street, Darfur, the Banana Republics and Southern Baptists; and Dr. MLK’s dream finally being Imagined.
er, Imagined = Realized.
In response to another comment. See in context »Andy, it’s interesting you have personal acquaintance with Brazilians’ knack for diplomacy.
In Latin America, they’ve long had a reputation as being naturals at it.
Along these lines, I’ve been wanting to read “Chasing the Flame,” Samantha Power’s biography of Sergio Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian U.N. functionary killed in Iraq, who was thought to be on his way to the U.N. Secretary-General’s job and maybe the Nobel peace prize.
http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Flame-Sergio-Vieira-Mello/dp/1594201285
Now that was a tragedy. I watched No End In Sight last year; the movie provided a distilled synopsis of the cluster**** that is the Iraq War. Viera de Mello was one of the few members of ‘Green Zone’ leadership portrayed in the film as someone who was actually proposing ideas to improve the situation (as opposed to the Bremers, Cheneys – anyone in the Dubya Admin that dismantled the Iraqi military, put them out of jobs and basically fed the insurgence and Anti-Western sentiment that has done nothing but get worse.)
Right after Saddam was removed we had a small window of time where Iraqis were actually appreciative; with the right, intelligent, humane diplomacy (or if Bremer and his staff had taken Sergio’s place) we might not be in the quagmire that still exists (with no end in sight.)
In response to another comment. See in context »