Elizabeth Bagley, nominated to be the new US ambassador to Brazil, said this Wednesday (18) that her priority will be to combat deforestation and environmental crimes in the country.
“One of my highest priorities will be to encourage efforts to increase climate ambition and dramatically reduce deforestation, protect defenders [da floresta] and prosecute environmental crimes and related acts of violence,” Bagley said in his opening speech at his Senate confirmation hearing.
Since Biden took power, the environment area has gained a central role in US bilateral relations. The US joined European countries in international pressure for Brazil to present better results in the fight against deforestation in the Amazon.
Bagley, 69, will be able to work in this area mainly because she was an adviser to Kerry – now Biden’s top adviser on environmental issues. Despite this, diplomats are betting that the ambassador’s main mission will be to closely monitor the 2022 elections, in which Bolsonaro will seek reelection. The US government believes that the election tends to be troubled.
The diplomat appointed to the post in January and waited four months for the hearing. It still needs to receive the approval of the Committee on Foreign Relations and be approved by a vote in the Senate Plenary. The dates for these next steps have not been announced.
Biden’s appointments to key positions have been slow to pass the legislature. The ambassador appointed to Chile, Bernadette Meehan, for example, was appointed in July 2021, approved in March 2022 and has not yet had the nomination voted on by the Senate.
The ambassador to Argentina, Marc Stanley, was appointed in August 2021, approved in October and confirmed by the Plenary in December, in a process that took about four months.
The future ambassador was born in Elmira, New York, and is a longtime donor to the Democratic Party. Bagley has worked in the fields of diplomacy and law for decades, having been senior advisor to three Secretaries of State: John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, both under Barack Obama, and Madeleine Albright, under Bill Clinton.
She was also a special representative for the United Nations General Assembly and for Global Partnerships, as well as an ambassador to Portugal. She currently owns a communications and cell phone company in Arizona.
While Bagley is not confirmed, the American representation in Brasilia is headed on an interim basis by Douglas Koneff. Brazil has been without a full US ambassador since mid-2021, when diplomat Todd Chapman, who held the post, announced his retirement.
Chapman invested during the Donald Trump administration (2017-2021) in a strong rapprochement with Bolsonaro and key figures around the president, such as federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL-SP).
With Trump’s defeat, Chapman’s close ties to Bolsonarism became an issue. 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.
So far, Presidents Biden and Bolsonaro have not spoken on the phone or had any bilateral meetings. There is an expectation that this could occur at the next Summit of the Americas, scheduled for early June in Los Angeles. The Brazilian leader, however, has not yet confirmed his presence, and US officials are trying to convince him to go.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is headed by Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and has 11 members from each party. Among the Republican members are Senators James Risch, Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney, among others.
Wednesday’s audience also hears from Mari Carmen Aponte, appointed as ambassador to Panama, Michelle Kwan, appointed to be ambassador to Belize, and Francisco Mora, appointed as permanent US representative to the OAS (Organization of American States).
