US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, head of diplomacy for the Joe Biden government, will travel to South America on Monday (3), the day after the first round of Brazilian presidential elections, but will not go to Brazil.
Blinken will spend the entire week in the region and visit three of Brazil’s neighbors: Colombia, Chile and Peru. On the agenda, meetings with presidents, and discussions of cooperation agreements and a trip to the OAS (Organization of American States) General Assembly in Lima.
The absence of Brazil on the agenda is justified, according to US government officials who spoke to the report, by the fact that it would be unusual for the highest diplomacy official to travel to the country so close to the elections, for fear of giving an image of external interference. in the lawsuit.
On the other hand, the successive public demonstrations that the White House and the Department of State have made that they trust the Brazilian electoral system, in messages to the Jair Bolsonaro government (PL) that they will not accept contestations of the result, are also weighing on.
Blinken himself stated this Friday morning that “Brazil has very strong democratic institutions, including very strong electoral institutions.”
American parliamentarians have been pressing for the Joe Biden administration to immediately recognize the winner in the Brazilian polls, in order to make contestations difficult. Last Wednesday (28), the US Senate passed a resolution that calls for instant recognition and review of relations in the event of a democratic breakdown.
Questioned by Sheet this Friday (30) whether the Biden administration will recognize the winner once the result is announced, Assistant Secretary of the State Department for the Western Hemisphere, Brian Nichols, said: “Obviously we hope to engage with whoever the Brazilian people choose [presidente] as soon as possible and strengthen the friendship the strong cooperation we have.”
Blinken has not visited Brazil since he took over as Secretary of State in January 2021. On the only other trip he made to South America, in October last year, the American went only to Ecuador and Colombia, where he met presidents, and also left Brazil out — considering all of Latin America, he has also traveled to Costa Rica and Mexico.
The highest diplomatic official sent by the US government to Brazil was Jake Sullivan, National Security adviser to the White House, in August 2021, when he met with President Bolsonaro and reaffirmed confidence in the electoral system.
Since then, other officials from Biden’s cabinet have been to the country, such as Defense Secretary Lloy Austin in July – when he argued that the military must be “under firm civilian control”, but the country has bypassed the center. of American diplomacy. Since 2021, for example, the post of US ambassador has been vacant. Biden’s nominated candidate, Elizabeth Bagley, was barred from the Senate and the White House did not send another name, and who occupies the position on an interim basis is Douglas Koneff, chargé d’affaires.
Now, Blinken will spend the entire week in South America. He will stay in Colombia between Monday and Tuesday (4), where he will meet with the country’s new president, Gustavo Petro, in addition to the vice president, Francia Márquez, and the chancellor, Álvaro Leyva —Colombia is one of the main partners of the United States. in the region.
According to the State Department, the secretary will discuss the climate crisis (more than 40% of the country’s territory is made up of the Amazon rainforest), immigration (about 2.5 million Venezuelans live in the country, which also has a large Latino community). in the US), and drug trafficking (Colombia is the world’s leading cocaine producer). Another topic on the agenda is the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC, for which the secretary will reaffirm “continuous collaboration with the Colombian government”, says the organ.
On Wednesday (5), Blinken goes to Chile to meet with the also new president Gabriel Boric. The newly elected leftist has become a pop figure and has just returned from the United States, where he had a full agenda of meetings with important leaders on the global stage, such as Emmanuel Macron (France) and Olaf Scholz (Germany), as well as the head of the World Bank. and former US President Barack Obama. With Boric, Blinken wants to discuss regional security and human rights, investment and trade between the two countries, as well as discussing migration and the climate crisis.
On Thursday (6), he travels to Lima, where he will have the main commitment of the trip, the OAS General Assembly, in which he must press for a resolution against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the country, he will also meet with Peruvian President Pedro Castillo and will return to discuss immigration.
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