US President Joe Biden has appointed Elizabeth Bagley as the new US Ambassador to Brazil. The announcement was made by the White House on Wednesday (19).
The diplomatic mission in Brasilia had been without a holder since mid-2021, when Todd Chapman – appointed by former President Donald Trump – left the post.
Bagley still needs to be confirmed by the US Senate to take over the embassy.
The White House statement states that the new ambassador has worked in the areas of diplomacy and advocacy for decades, having been senior adviser to three Secretaries of State: John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, both under Barack Obama, and Madeleine Albright, in the administration. by Bill Clinton.
She has also been Special Representative to the United Nations General Assembly, Special Representative for Global Partnerships and Ambassador to Portugal. Currently, according to the US government, she owns a communications and cell phone company in Arizona.
Chapman, the last ambassador, invested during the Trump administration in a strong rapprochement with Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and key figures around the president, such as federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL-SP), one of the Brazilian leader’s sons.
One of his first gestures in command of the diplomatic mission was to welcome Bolsonaro and government advisors for a lunch in celebration of the US Independence Day, on July 4, 2020.
With Biden’s victory in that year’s election and his inauguration a year ago, the situation has changed.
Once an asset, Chapman’s identification as a diplomat with close ties to Bolsonarism became a problem in the Democrat’s administration. Biden’s assistants claim that the ambassador did not have the profile of the new government or in tune with the management, which weighed on the diplomat’s retirement.
In October, the leaf showed that names from the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party pressured Biden through letters, asking for a departure from Brazil and that, behind this initiative, was the expectation of the appointment in Brasília of a name more aligned with the administration.
While the new ambassador is not confirmed, the American representation is headed by Douglas Koneff. In addition to Bagley, other positions were announced, including the new US ambassadors to the UK (Jane Hartley), Chad (Alexander Laskaris) and Denmark (Alan Leventhal).
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