Conspiracy theories about electronic voting machines and attacks against the Brazilian electoral system, made by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to an audience of foreign ambassadors, consolidated the weakening of Itamaraty a few months before the elections.
The episode — described in reserve by diplomats as shameful and harmful to national interests — also dragged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs into the president’s re-election campaign and put in check the image that Carlos França is trying to project within Itamaraty: that of a chancellor who works to normalize the paste after Ernesto Araújo’s period full of ideological inks.
The evaluation was carried out at Sheet by different diplomats consulted since Monday (18), when Bolsonaro opened the doors of Palácio da Alvorada to dozens of heads of foreign diplomatic missions and accused ministers of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) of plotting his defeat in the October election.
Although Itamaraty tried to keep its distance from the episode, diplomats say that the ministry was fatally linked to the case because it is the body responsible for advising the Presidency of the Republic on foreign policy matters. The ministry is also responsible for the relationship with the diplomatic community based in Brasília – in this case, the audience chosen by Bolsonaro.
Furthermore, França was present at Alvorada and followed the exhibition in which Bolsonaro recycled lies and attacked the electoral system. At Itamaraty, the president’s attitude was widely criticized in private conversations. The general diagnosis is that the lecture internationalized a crisis that until now was domestic and portrayed Brazil as a kind of republic in which the Chief Executive himself commands an institutional offensive against the Judiciary.
It was, according to diplomats heard, an act aimed at the internal public, especially the more radical Bolsonarist militancy. The president also ignored warnings that the international repercussion would be mostly negative – which was confirmed in the foreign press and in the notes that were released by the US and UK governments reaffirming confidence in electronic voting machines.
In the days after the platform set up at Alvorada, there was mobilization to try to keep the diplomats away from the event. The articulation resulted in a note released by the ADB (Association of Brazilian Diplomats), which expressed “full confidence” in the Electoral Justice and in the electronic voting system.
“Since its implementation, in 1996, the Brazilian electronic voting system has been the object of repeated demands for international cooperation in the transfer of knowledge and technology. Throughout this time, Brazilian diplomacy has always witnessed high standards of reliability that have become an international reference inseparable from image of Brazil as one of the largest and most solid democracies in the world”, states the association’s statement.
França could not avoid criticism from colleagues due to the holding of the event at Alvorada. Such an act should have been advised against by the Foreign Ministry in the strongest possible terms, according to diplomats interviewed, who were apprehensive that he had not been successful in an attempt to preserve Brazilian diplomacy from an agenda they considered harmful to national interests.
This view is shared by foreign ambassadors heard by the Sheet under reservation. There is also fear in Itamaraty that the ministry will be involved throughout the electoral process in new attacks by Bolsonaro on the voting system. One of the dates on the calendar that generates apprehension is the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly (United Nations), in September.
Although the leaders’ meeting is scheduled to take place a few days before the first round, which should reduce Bolsonaro’s chances of attending the meeting, there are fears that the president wants to use the stage to once again internationalize his campaign against the Electoral Justice.
Asked about the theme and France’s role in the meeting at Alvorada, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to questions made by the Sheet.
Internally, the minister is considered someone who had managed to remove the Itamaraty, at least in part, from Bolsonarist agendas, which did not prevent the ministry from publishing a note of regret for the death of Luiz de Orleans e Bragança, grandson of Princess Isabel, calling him that of “His Imperial and Royal Highness”.
Diplomats close to France allege that he was against holding the presentation at Alvorada, but had nothing to do with Planalto’s decision to promote the event. His allies also tend to defend him with the argument that, if he were not the minister, there would be a risk that Bolsonaro would appoint a replacement for Itamaraty with a profile similar to his predecessor.
Former foreign minister Aloysio Nunes (PSDB) classifies Bolsonaro’s meeting with ambassadors as “shame on others” that generated “deep embarrassment” among diplomats, but agrees that France had little room for maneuver to avoid what happened. “A normal president would be susceptible to receiving advice from an experienced diplomat,” he said. “But Bolsonaro is not a normal politician. You don’t advise the obsessive to abandon his obsessions. An obsessive is averse to any advice regarding his obsessions. the most radical sector of its electoral base.”
The presentation made to foreign ambassadors is not the only recent episode that symbolizes the fragility of the portfolio or that has resulted in wear and tear for the minister. In recent weeks, an articulation by Senator Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP) almost resulted in the approval, by the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission) of the Senate, of a PEC (Proposed Amendment to the Constitution) that allows the appointment of parliamentarians to embassies without loss of mandate.
The project is considered a serious blow to the diplomatic career, and France, until the last moment, had a discreet public performance against the text – which also generated criticism among colleagues.
His allies again defend him and say that he articulated behind the scenes the non-voting of the PEC. The postponement took place after the chancellor threatened to cancel an agenda at the UN in New York to return to Brasilia and work against the proposal, having obtained from the Senate president, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), a promise that the proposal would not advance at the moment. .
Finally, the fact that countries like the USA and China are without ambassadors in Brasilia, being represented by chargés d’affaires for months, reinforces the diplomatic weakening of the Brazilian government.
When the Itamaraty showed signs of weakening
Presentation to Ambassadors
Bolsonaro gathered ambassadors at Palácio da Alvorada and spread lies about the Brazilian electoral system. The presentation received criticism from other Powers and institutions, and foreign representations later reaffirmed their support for the system. The Association of Brazilian Diplomats (ADB) said in a note that it has confidence in the Electoral Justice.
PEC 34
Proposal to amend the Constitution in the Senate opens the way for politicians to become ambassadors without losing their mandate. The project is criticized by diplomats, professors of international relations and researchers. Itamaraty also spoke out against the PEC and stated, in a statement, that the nature of the ambassadorship “recommends distancing from party politics”.
Absence of representatives in Brazil
The country has a deficit in the representation of heads of diplomatic missions in Brasilia.
China and the USA, for example, are represented by chargés d’affaires, and countries in the region, including Argentina and Chile, are also without ambassadors in the federal capital, which also reinforces the diplomatic weakening of the Brazilian government.
