Overview
Brazil is the largest country in South America, and an important trading partner of the United States. In coming decades, Brazil may become a leading world power, as it has an abundance of natural resources, including oil, a well-educated citizenry, improving infrastructure and a growing economy. On the downside, Brazilian society is characterized by tremendous inequality, grinding poverty and political corruption.
Basic Information
Lay of the Land: With a vast area of 3,287,597 square miles (the size of the U.S. excluding Texas and California) Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world (after Russia, Canada, China and the U.S.) and the fifth most populous (after China, India, the U.S. and Indonesia). Sprawling across central and eastern South America, Brazil borders all other South American countries except Chile and Ecuador. Such huge size yields tremendous geographical and cultural diversity. The Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) (IBGE), which conducts Brazil’s decennial census, has divided Brazil into five regions for statistical and analytical purposes. The North region comprises 45% of the country but only 6.2% of its people. Brazil’s predominant geographical features—the Amazon River and its rainforest—are located in the North region. The Amazon is the largest river in the world by volume flowing through the globe’s largest rainforest, which is roughly half the size of the contiguous United States. Although much of it remains to be explored, the rainforest likely contains vast reserves of minerals and gemstones, possibly oil, and the world’s largest concentration of iron ore, in addition to the obvious wealth of lumber and forest products. Managing those resources while not harming the fragile ecosystem will be a great challenge for Brazil in coming years. With a total flow greater than the next ten largest rivers combined, the Amazon accounts for approximately one fifth of the world’s total river flow and has the largest basin in the world, which drains 40% of South America and thus provides a natural transportation network.
The Northeast region, Brazil’s poorest, contains 27% of Brazil’s area and a similar share of its population. It is hot throughout the year, although tropical near the coast and semi-arid in the interior as is the Central West region, which includes the capital of Brasilia.
Home to 38% of Brazilians, the Southeast region includes the country’s two largest cities, São Paulo (pop. 10.4 million) and Rio de Janeiro (5.8 million), and is the nation’s economic center, where most corporate headquarters are located. The South region is the country’s wealthiest, with the mildest climate and a strong immigrant presence.
Population: 187.8 million
Religions: Catholic 74%, Protestant 15%, Spiritist (e.g. Candomble, Umbanda...) 3.6%, non-religious 2.6%, Kardecist 1.3%, Buddhist 0.3%, Ethnoreligious 0.2%, Jewish 0.1%, Muslim 0.1%.
Ethnic Groups: white 53.7%, mulatto 38.5%, black 6.2%, other (includes Japanese, Arab, Amerindian) 0.9%.
Languages: Portuguese (official) 88.6%, Ticuna 0.01%, Amapá Creole 0.01%, Guajajára 0.008%, Caló 0.005%. There are 188 living languages in Brazil.
History
Human habitation in Brazil dates back at least eight thousand years, and by 1500 there were approximately 3 to 4 million indigenous inhabitants of what is today Brazil. Brazil was first visited by Europeans on April 22, 1500, by Pedro Álvares Cabral, a Portuguese explorer. Although Portugal immediately claimed sovereignty, it was far less interested in Brazil than in its highly profitable commerce with India, China and Indonesia. During the 16th century, the main commercial product of Brazil was brazilwood, which contains a valuable red dye. Gold mining and sugarcane growing became the economic mainstays of 17th and 18th century Brazil, and both relied on the brutal exploitation of kidnapped African slaves, who were imported by the millions. Some slaves escaped and established independent settlements (quilombos) in remote areas, often joined by free Africans, mixed race persons, and even poor whites. The most important of these, the quilombo of Palmares, was the largest runaway slave settlement in the Americas, a consolidated kingdom of some 30,000 people at its height in the 1670s and 1680s. Government and private troops, however, eventually destroyed Palmares and most other quilombos.
Brazil’s road to independence was unique in Latin American history. In 1808, the king of Portugal, King João VI, with the royal family and senior government officials, fled Lisbon to escape the conquering armies of Emperor Napoleon I of France. He relocated to Rio de Janeiro and established a seat of government there, eventually renaming his empire the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Dom João VI returned to Portugal in 1821, leaving his son Pedro as regent of Brazil. Dom Pedro declared Brazil’s independence about a year later, on September 7, 1822, and took the title of Emperor Pedro I. His son, Dom Pedro II, ruled from 1831 to 1889, when a federal republic was established after a coup led by Deodoro da Fonseca, Marshal of the Army.
The Brazilian economy in the 19th century continued to be dominated by agricultural exports, although coffee became the chief product rather than sugar. As before, Brazil’s plantations relied almost entirely on slave labor. Brazil did not end its participation in the slave trade until 1850, and was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, which it finally did in 1888. Shortly thereafter, millions of Europeans began immigrating to Brazil, an immigration which permanently altered the ethnic makeup of the country. Previously, a much smaller immigration also left its mark on Brazil. About 9,000 Southerners (including a great uncle of former first lady Rosalyn Carter) left the U.S. at the end of the Civil War to relocate to Brazil, where they were known as “confederados” and established plantations to continue their slaveholding ways for an additional two decades. Their descendants identify themselves as Brazilians and have intermarried with native Brazilians; their use of the Confederate battle flag as a symbol of identity does not carry the loaded political or racial connotations that it would in the U.S.
From 1889 to 1930, the government was a constitutional republic, with the presidency alternating between the dominant states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. This period ended with a military coup that placed Getúlio Vargas, a civilian, in the presidency; Vargas remained as dictator until 1945. Between 1945 and 1964, Brazil was once again a functioning democracy, electing presidents and national legislators. The presidency of João Goulart, from 1962 to 1964, was marked by high inflation, economic stagnation, and the increasing influence of left-wing political elements. Alarmed by these developments, the armed forces staged a coup on March 31, 1964, and for twenty years installed a series of senior army officers in the presidency. Gen. Ernesto Geisel, who was president from 1974 to 1979, began a democratic opening that was continued by his successor, Gen. João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo, who not only permitted exiled politicians to return to Brazil, but also allowed them to run for office in 1982.
Brazil completed its return to popularly elected government in 1989, when Fernando Collor de Mello won 53% of the vote in the first direct presidential election in 29 years. In 1992, however, a major corruption scandal led to his impeachment and resignation. Vice President Itamar Franco took his place and governed for the remainder of Collor’s term, culminating in the October 3, 1994, presidential elections, when Fernando Henrique Cardoso was elected President with 54% of the vote. Cardoso took office January 1, 1995, and pursued a program of ambitious economic reform. He was re-elected in October 1998 for a second four-year term. Luiz “Lula” Inácio da Silva, a lifelong labor activist and Brazil’s first working-class president, was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2006 for a second four-year term. He has emphasized pro-labor policies designed to help bring greater social and economic equality to Brazil.
History of Brazil (Wikipedia)
History of U.S. Relations with Brazil
The United States was the first nation to establish a consulate in Brazil, in 1808, following the transfer of the Portuguese royal court to Rio de Janeiro. The U.S. was also the first nation to recognize Brazil’s independence. However, it was not until after World War II that the United States became Brazil’s number-one trading partner and foreign investor.
Since 1945, U.S.-Brazil relations have oscillated between periods when Brazil was willing to follow the U.S. lead, and those when it defined its interests more independently. During the presidency of Eurico Gaspar Dutra (1946-1951), Brazil's foreign policy was aligned closely with that of the United States, but Getúlio Vargas’s return to power in 1951 signaled a cooling of relations amid growing Brazilian nationalism. The establishment of the Petrobrás oil monopoly in 1953 crowned these nationalist sentiments and was hailed as an economic declaration of independence from United States oil companies. These sentiments were further fanned by charges of United States involvement in Vargas’s ouster and suicide in August 1954. His suicide note blamed “international economic and financial groups.”
President Juscelino Kubitschek (1956-1961) improved relations with the United States, while strengthening relations with Latin America and Europe, and exploring market possibilities in Eastern Europe. Relations again cooled slightly after President Jánio Quadros announced his new independent foreign policy in January 1961. Quadros also made overtures to Cuba and decorated Cuban revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara with Brazil’s highest honor. The exact United States role in the March 31, 1964, military coup that overthrew Brazilian president João Goulart remains controversial. However, the United States immediately recognized the new interim government even before Goulart had fled Brazil; a U.S. naval task force anchored close to the port of Vitória; the United States made an immediate large loan to the new government; and new military president Humberto Castelo Branco adopted a policy of total alignment with the United States. Nonetheless, Castelo Branco’s all-out support for United States policies only served to increase anti-Americanism rather than to lessen it.
For the next twelve years, 1967 to 1979, Brazil generally followed a course of increasingly independent foreign policy combined with friendly relations with the United States. The Carter administration marked a definite cooling of United States-Brazil relations over two very sensitive issues—human rights and nuclear proliferation.
The Reagan administration made gestures to improve relations with Brazil. In the early 1980s, tension in United States-Brazil relations centered on economic questions. The U.S. criticized Brazil for its trade restrictions and allegedly unfair practices and for its $5 billion trade surplus with the United States. Brazil replied that it needed desperately to maintain large balance of payments surpluses to meet its foreign debt obligations.
On taking office in March 1990, President Fernando Collor sought a quick rapprochement with the United States, but after a year in office the Collor government concluded that its overtures had been in vain, and Brazilian policies reverted to a more pragmatic, independent approach. The administration of Collor’s successor, Itamar Franco, maintained an even more independent stance and reacted coolly to proposals by the Clinton administration for a Latin American free-trade zone. U.S. relations with the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, from 1995 to 1997, were good. The Clinton administration was enthusiastic regarding the passage of constitutional amendments that opened the Brazilian economy to increased international participation. In April 1995, Brasília and Washington signed a new cooperation agreement.
In response to United States criticism over its unfair trade practices and its failure to protect intellectual property rights, Brazil finally passed a new patent protection law in March 1996.
Current U.S. Relations with Brazil
Current issues of concern to both Brazil and the United States include counter-narcotics and terrorism, energy security, trade, environmental issues, human rights and HIV/AIDS. At present, relations are fairly close, despite the differing political approaches of President Lula and President Bush, who have exchanged official visits. President Lula has made relations with neighboring countries in the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) his first priority, and has sought to strengthen ties with nontraditional partners, including India and China. Lula’s pursuit of closer ties with Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia—all governed by left wing governments that do not have friendly relations with Washington—has occasioned criticism from the U.S. Further, some American commentators have criticized President Lula for referring to the U.S. as an empire, apparently unaware that the designation is surprising only to Americans ears. In 2002, Brazil—a major cotton export competitor—initiated a WTO dispute (PDF) settlement case against certain features of the U.S. cotton subsidies program. On September 8, 2004, a WTO dispute settlement panel ruled against the United States on several key issues in the case. Nevertheless, in March 2007 the two countries signed an agreement to promote greater ethanol production and use internationally, which is not surprising given that the U.S. and Brazil are the number 1 and number 2 corn producers in the world.
181,076 Brazilians live in the U.S. The Brazilian government estimates that 1.4 million Brazilians left the country between 1986 and 1990 as a result of the financial meltdown during that period. Many of these immigrated to the U.S., often illegally since the quotas were filled quickly. Some sources estimate that there are as many as 350,000 Brazilians living illegally in the U.S.
721,633 Americans visited Brazil in 2006. In recent years the number of tourists has grown steadily from 628,412 in 2002 to a peak of 793,559 in 2005. 525,271 Brazilians visited the U.S. in 2006. Despite distinct drop-offs in 2003 and 2004, the overall number of tourists has grown since 2002, when 405,094 Brazilians came to the U.S.
Where Does the Money Flow
Brazil boasts the largest national economy in Latin America, the world’s tenth largest energy consumer and the world’s tenth largest economy overall, with large and developed agricultural, mining, manufacturing and service sectors, as well as a large labor force. Brazil is the world’s largest producer of sugar cane, oranges, and coffee, and the second largest producer of soybeans, beef, poultry and corn. Government and foreign investment are experiencing huge booms. In 2007, Brazil launched a four-year, $300 billion infrastructure modernization plan, while foreign long-term direct investment was about $193.8 billion for 2007. Agriculture and allied sectors accounted for 5.1% of the gross domestic product in 2007, while industry, which is highly concentrated in the South, accounted for 30.8% of GDP. Brazil’s energy comes from renewable sources, particularly hydroelectricity and ethanol; and nonrenewable sources, mainly oil and natural gas. Brazil is expected to become an oil superpower over the next few decades, owing to massive oil and natural gas discoveries in recent years.
U.S. trade with Brazil is remarkably well-balanced, as imports from Brazil totaled $25.6 billion in 2007, nearly matched by exports to Brazil of $24.6 billion. Brazilian goods sold to the U.S. in 2007 included crude oil, fuel oil and liquefied gas ($5.0 billion or 19.5%), steelmaking materials and semi-finished steel products ($2.74 billion or 10.7%), food products, especially coffee, fruit and meat ($2 billion or 7.8%), automobile engines, parts, and related products ($1.8 billion or 7%) and aircraft, including engines and parts ($1.7 billion or 6.6%). U.S. exports to Brazil were dominated by aircraft, including engines and parts ($4.9 billion or 19.9%), plastics and chemicals ($4.5 billion or 18.3%), and computer and telecommunications equipment ($3 billion or 12.2%),
Brazil received $16 million in aid from the U.S. in 2007. The largest recipient programs were Economic Growth: Environment ($5.2 million), the Andean Counterdrug Program ($4.0 million), and Child Survival and Health ($3.2 million). In 2008 the budget estimate has decreased slightly to $14.9 million. Decreases in the Andean Counterdrug Program ($900,000) were offset by gains in Economic Growth: Environment ($9.5 million). The budget request for 2009 will further reduce funding to Brazil down to $8.6 million. The largest programs to receive funding will be Economic Growth: Environment ($5 million), Child Survival and Health ($2 million), and the Andean Counterdrug Program ($1 million).
Controversies
Brazilians Protest Government’s Decision to Allow Use of Genetically modified Seeds
Expansion of Biotechnology in Brazil Augments Rural Conflicts (by Isabella Kenfield, Center for International Policy)
Brazil Refused U.S. AIDS Money in 2005 Rather than Agree not to Treat Prostitutes
Prostitution Puts U.S. and Brazil at Odds on AIDS Policy (by Larry Rohter, New York Times)
Price of AIDS Drugs
In 2001, the U.S. filed a WTO trade dispute against Brazil because Brazil was threatening to manufacture patented AIDS drugs unless their U.S.-based manufacturers reduced their prices.
US drops Brazil Aids Drugs Case (BBC News)
Brazil in US Aids Drugs Row (by Iain Haddow, BBC News)
Human Rights
Despite its history of alternating between democracy and oligarchy, Brazil today is a politically stable democratic republic, and has been since 1988. Free and fair elections determine the presidency and other offices, and freedom of the press, speech, association, and religion are widely recognized. However, widespread, flagrant and serious human rights violations do occur in the field of internal security. Especially in the larger cities, crime rates are exceptionally high, and violent criminal gangs hold sway in some areas. On average, Brazil sees about 50,000 murders per year. Allegedly in response to crime, state and local authorities engage in the following human rights abuses: unlawful killings, excessive force, beatings, abuse, and torture of detainees. Making matters worse, police are often unable to protect witnesses involved in criminal cases. In recent years, some security forces have formed informal milicias, through which they employ illegal tactics against those whom they suspect of criminal activity; in one case, milicia members in Rio de Janeiro kidnapped and tortured several journalists who were investigating milicia activities. When suspects are arrested rather than summarily killed, they face harsh prison conditions, prolonged pretrial detention and inordinate delays of trials. The criminal justice system is reluctant to prosecute government officials for corruption. Other problems include violence and discrimination against women; violence against children, including sexual abuse; trafficking in persons; discrimination against indigenous people and minorities; failure to enforce labor laws; widespread forced labor; and child labor in the informal sector.
Debate
AIDS Policy Clash
Brazil’s policies for preventing and treating AIDS emphasize condom use, education and treatment for sex workers, and manufacturing generic equivalents of expensive, patent-protected drugs when their manufacturers will not reduce their prices.
Pro Condoms
HIV and AIDS in Brazil (AVERT)
Anti Condoms
Past Ambassadors
Condy Raguet
Title: Chargé d'Affaires
Title: Chargé d'Affaires
Appointment: Mar 9, 1825
Presentation of Credentials: Oct 29, 1825
Termination of Mission: Left post, Apr 16, 1827
William Tudor
Title: Chargé d'Affaires
Appointment: Jun 26, 1827
Presentation of Credentials: Jun 25, 1828
Termination of Mission: Died at post, Mar 9, 1830
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Dec 27, 1827.
Ethan A. Brown
Title: Chargé d'Affaires
Appointment: May 26, 1830
Presentation of Credentials: Feb 18, 1831
Termination of Mission: Presented recall, Apr 11, 1834
Note: Brown served as a Justice on the Ohio Supreme Court from 1810 to 1818, as Governor of Ohio from 1818 to 1822, and as U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1822 to 1825.
William Hunter
Title: Chargé d'Affaires (1834-1841) and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary (1841-1842)
Appointment: Jun 28, 1834
Presentation of Credentials: Jan 7, 1835
Termination of Mission: Presented recall, Dec 9, 1843
Note: Hunter also served as U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, from 1811 to 1821.
George H. Proffit
Appointment: Jun 7, 1843
Presentation of Credentials: Dec 11, 1843
Termination of Mission: Presented recall, Aug 10, 1844
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; nomination later rejected by the Senate.
Henry A. Wise
State of Residency: Virginia
Title: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Appointment: Feb 8, 1844
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 10, 1844
Termination of Mission: Superseded, Aug 28, 1847
Note: Wise also served as a U.S. Congressman from Virginia from 1843 to 1844, as Governor of Virginia from 1856 to 1860, and as a Brigadier General (promoted to Major General) in the Confederate States Army from 1861 to 1865.
David Tod
Appointment: Mar 3, 1847
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 28, 1847
Termination of Mission: Presented recall, Aug 9, 1851
Note: Tod also served as Governor of Ohio from 1862 to 1864.
Robert C. Schenck
Appointment: Mar 12, 1851
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 9, 1851
Termination of Mission: Presented recall, Oct 8, 1853
Note: Schenck served as a Member of Congress from 1843 to 1851, and from 1863 to 1871, as a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army from 1861 to 1863, and as U.S. Minister to Great Britain from 1871 to 1876.
William Trousdale
Appointment: May 24, 1853
Presentation of Credentials: Oct 8, 1853
Termination of Mission: Presented recall, Dec 5, 1857
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Feb 9, 1854. He also served as Governor of Tennessee from 1849 to 1851.
Richard K. Meade
Appointment: Jul 27, 1857
Presentation of Credentials: Dec 5, 1857
Termination of Mission: Left post, Jul 9, 1861
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Jan 14, 1858.
James Watson Webb
Appointment: May 31, 1861
Presentation of Credentials:Oct 21, 1861
Termination of Mission: Left post, May 26, 1869
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Jul 15, 1861.
Henry T. Blow
Appointment: May 1, 1869
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 28, 1869
Termination of Mission: Left post, Nov 6, 1870
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Dec 21, 1869. Blow’s parents had been the owners of Dred Scott previous to the Sandfords, whom Scott sued for his freedom, and was supported in this by Henry Blow. Blow also served as Minister to Venezuela from 1861 to 1862, and as a member of Congress from 1863 to 1867.
James R. Partridge
Appointment: May 23, 1871
Presentation of Credentials: Jul 31, 1871
Termination of Mission: Left post, Jun 11, 1877
Note: Partridge also served as ambassador to Honduras, in 1862; to El Salvador, in 1863; to Venezuela, in 1869, and to Peru, from 1882 to 1883.
Henry W. Hilliard
Appointment: Jul 31, 1877
Presentation of Credentials: Oct 23, 1877
Termination of Mission: Left post, Jun 15, 1881
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Feb 7, 1878.
Note: Hilliard also served as a member of Congress from 1845 to 1851, and as a Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army.
Thomas A. Osborn
Appointment: May 19, 1881
Presentation of Credentials: Dec 17, 1881
Termination of Mission: Presented recall, Jul 11, 1885
Thomas J. Jarvis
Appointment: Apr 2, 1885
Presentation of Credentials: Jul 11, 1885
Termination of Mission: Left post, Nov 19, 1888
Note: Jarvis also served as Governor of North Carolina from 1879 to 1885 and as U.S. Senator from 1894 to 1895.
Robert Adams, Jr.
Appointment: Mar 30, 1889
Presentation of Credentials: Jul 20, 1889
Termination of Mission: Left post, Mar 1, 1890
Note: Commissioned to Brazil and accredited to the Emperor. Commissioned Feb 6, 1890, to the United States of Brazil and accredited to the Chief of the Provisional Government, but declined this appointment.
Edwin H. Conger
First Appointment: Sep 27, 1890
First Presentation of Credentials: Dec 19, 1890
First Termination of Mission: Superseded, Sep 9, 1893
Second Appointment: May 27, 1897
Second Presentation of Credentials: Aug 9, 1897
Second Termination of Mission: Left post, Feb 6, 1898
Note: Conger also served as a member of Congress from Iowa, from 1885 to 1890, and as ambassador to China from 1898 to 1905 and to Mexico from March to August, 1905.
Thomas L. Thompson
Appointment: Apr 24, 1893
Presentation of Credentials: [Sep 9, 1893]
Termination of Mission: Left post, Jul 17, 1897
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate; recommissioned after confirmation on Aug 29, 1893. Officially recognized on Sep 9, 1893.
Charles Page Bryan
Appointment: Jan 19, 1898
Presentation of Credentials: Apr 11, 1898
Termination of Mission: Left post, Dec 3, 1902
Note: Bryan also served as ambassador to Portugal from 1903 to 1910, to Belgium from 1909 to 1911, and to Japan from 1911 to 1912.
David E. Thompson
State of Residency: Nebraska
Appointment: Dec 8, 1902
Presentation of Credentials: Apr 1, 1903
Termination of Mission: Left post, Nov 3, 1905
Note: Thompson also served as ambassador to Mexico from 1906 to 1909.
Lloyd C. Griscom
Appointment: Jan 29, 1906
Presentation of Credentials: Jun 6, 1906
Termination of Mission: Left post, Jan 2, 1907
Note: Griscom also served as ambassador to Persia from 1901 to 1902, to Japan from 1903 to 1905, and to Italy from 1907 to 1909.
Irving B. Dudley
Appointment: Dec 19, 1906
Presentation of Credentials: Apr 1, 1907
Termination of Mission: Left post, Sep 16, 1911
Note: Dudley also served as Minister to Peru from 1897 to 1907.
Edwin V. Morgan
Appointment: Jan 18, 1912
Presentation of Credentials: Jun 4, 1912
Termination of Mission: Left post, Aug 23, 1933
Note: Morgan also served as Minister to Korea in 1905, to Cuba from 1905 to 1910, to Paraguay from 1909 to 1911; to Uruguay from 1909-11, and to Portugal from 1911 to 1912.
Hugh S. Gibson
Appointment: May 11, 1933
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 8, 1933
Termination of Mission: Left post, Dec 3, 1936
Jefferson Caffery
Appointment: Jul 13, 1937
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 17, 1937
Termination of Mission: Left post, Sep 17, 1944
Note: A career diplomat, Caffery also served as ambassador to El Salvador from 1926 to 1928, to Colombia from 1928 to 1933, to Cuba from 1934 to 1937, to France from 1944 to 1949, and to Egypt from 1949 to 1955.
Adolf A. Berle, Jr.
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Jan 18, 1945
Presentation of Credentials: Jan 30, 1945
Termination of Mission: Left post, Feb 27, 1946
William D. Pawley
State of Residency: Florida
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Apr 12, 1946
Presentation of Credentials: Jun 13, 1946
Termination of Mission: Left post, Mar 26, 1948
Note: Pawley also served as ambassador to Peru from 1945 to 1946. Less publicly, Pawley played a role in the successful CIA plot to overthrow the Guatemalan government of elected President Jacobo Arbenz in 1954 after Arbenz introduced land reforms and nationalized the United Fruit Company. Pawley is believed to have served in Panama, Guatemala, Cuba and Nicaragua between 1948 and 1960.
Herschel V. Johnson
Appointment: Apr 14, 1948
Presentation of Credentials: Jul 22, 1948
Termination of Mission: Left post, May 27, 1953
Name: James S. Kemper
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Jun 24, 1953
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 18, 1953
Termination of Mission: Left post, Jan 26, 1955
James Clement Dunn
Appointment: Jan 24, 1955
Presentation of Credentials: Mar 11, 1955
Termination of Mission: Left post, Jul 4, 1956
Note: Dunn also served as Ambassador to Italy from 1946 to 1952, to France from 1952 to 1953, and to Spain from 1953 to 1955.
Ellis O. Briggs
Appointment: May 29, 1956
Presentation of Credentials: Jul 24, 1956
Termination of Mission: Left post, May 2, 1959
Note: Briggs also served as ambassador to the Dominican Republic from 1944 to 1945, to Uruguay from 1947 to 1949, to Czechoslovakia from 1949 to 1952, to South Korea from 1952 to 1955, to Peru from 1955 to 1956, and to Greece from 1959 to 1962.
John M. Cabot
Appointment: May 28, 1959
Presentation of Credentials: Jul 22, 1959
Termination of Mission: Left post, Aug 17, 1961
Note: Cabot also served as U.S. Minister to Finland from 1950 to 1952, and as Ambassador to Sweden from 1954 to 1957, to Colombia in 1957, and to Poland from 1962 to 1965.
Lincoln Gordon
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Sep 18, 1961
Presentation of Credentials: Oct 19, 1961
Termination of Mission: Left post, Feb 25, 1966
John W. Tuthill
Appointment: May 27, 1966
Presentation of Credentials: Jun 30, 1966
Termination of Mission: Left post, Jan 9, 1969
Note: Tuthill also served as Ambassador to the European Economic Community (the predecessor of the European Union) from 1962 to 1966.
C. Burke Elbrick
Appointment: May 1, 1969
Presentation of Credentials: Jul 14, 1969
Termination of Mission: Left post, May 7, 1970
Note: Elbrick also served as ambassador to Portugal from 1959 to 1963 and to Yugoslavia from 1964 to 1969.
William M. Rountree
Appointment: Oct 6, 1970
Presentation of Credentials: Nov 16, 1970
Termination of Mission: Left post, May 30, 1973
Note: Rountree also served as ambassador to Pakistan from 1959 to 1962, to Sudan from 1962 to 1965, and to South Africa from 1965 to 1970.
John Hugh Crimmins
Appointment: Jul 10, 1973
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 13, 1973
Termination of Mission: Left post, Feb 25, 1978
Robert M. Sayre
Appointment: May 1, 1978
Presentation of Credentials: Jun 8, 1978
Termination of Mission: Left post, Sep 19, 1981
Note: Sayre also served as Ambassador to Uruguay from 1968 to 1969 and to Panama from 1969 to 1974.
Langhorne A. Motley
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Sep 19, 1981
Presentation of Credentials: Oct 6, 1981
Termination of Mission: Left post Jul 6, 1983
Diego C. Asencio
Appointment: Nov 14, 1983
Presentation of Credentials: Dec 20, 1983
Termination of Mission: Left post, Feb 28, 1986
Harry W. Shlaudeman
Appointment: Jul 24, 1986
Presentation of Credentials: Aug 5, 1986
Termination of Mission: Left post, May 14, 1989
Note: Shlaudeman also served as Ambassador to Venezuela in 1975, to Peru from 1977 to 1980, to Argentina, from 1980 to 1983, as Special Envoy for Central America from 1984 to 1986, and ambassador to Nicaragua from 1990 to 1992.
Richard Huntington Melton
Appointment: Nov 14, 1989
Presentation of Credentials: Dec 12, 1989
Termination of Mission: Left post, Dec 16, 1993
Melvyn Levitsky
Appointment: May 9, 1994
Presentation of Credentials: Jun 1, 1994
Termination of Mission: Left post Jun 17, 1998
Anthony Stephen Harrington
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Nov 16, 1999
Presentation of Credentials: Feb 8, 2000
Termination of Mission: Left post Feb 28, 2001
Note: Cristobal R. Orozco served as Charge d'Affairs ad interim Feb 2001-Apr 2002.
Donna J. Hrinak
Appointment: Jan 30, 2002
Presentation of Credentials: Apr 23, 2002
Termination of Mission: Left post, June 26, 2004
Note: Hrinak also served as Ambassador to the Dominican Republic from 1994 to 1997, to Bolivia from 1997 to 2000, and to Venezuela from 2000 to 2002.
John J. Danilovich
Non-career appointee
Appointment: May 26, 2004
Presentation of Credentials: Sept. 2, 2004
Termination of Mission: Left post, Nov 7, 2005*
Philip T. Chicola served as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim, November 2005-November 2006.
Brazil's Ambassador to the U.S.
Vieira, Mauro
Mauro Vieira presented his credentials as Brazil’s ambassador to the United States in January 2010.
Vieira was born on February 15, 1952, in Niterói in the state of Rio de Janeiro. He earned a bachelor’s degree in law from the Universidade Federal Fluminense in 1973, and graduated from Instituto Rio Branco, the Brazilian diplomatic academy, before entering the diplomatic corps in 1974. He also studied English at the University of Michigan and Cambridge and French at the Université de Nancy.
Vieira’s political career has involved both diplomatic assignments and domestic roles back in Brazil.
His earlier overseas posts took him to the embassy in Washington, DC as second secretary (1978-1982); the mission to the Latin American Integration Association in Montevideo, Uruguay (1982-1985); the embassy in Mexico City, Mexico (1990-1992); and the embassy in Paris, France (1995-1999).
During the administration of President José Sarney in the late 1980s, he was an assistant to Minister of Science and Technology Renato Archer. In 1989 Vieira was an advisor to unsuccessful presidential candidate Ulysses Guimarães.
At the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations, Vieira has had several positions, including chief of staff to the secretary-general, and chief of staff to the minister of external relations. From January 2003 to May 2006, he was the representative of the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations to the board of directors of Itaipu Binacional hydroelectric power plant.
Vieira also has served as national secretary for management at the National Institute for Social Security in the Ministry of Social Security and Assistance.
Prior to being appointed ambassador to the United States, Vieira was the Brazilian ambassador to Argentina from 2004 to 2009.
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U.S. Ambassador to Brazil
Ayalde, Liliana
Liliana Ayalde has served as the United States Ambassador to Paraguay since August 5, 2008. Ayalde holds a bachelor’s degree from American University, and master’s degree in International Public Health from Tulane University. She is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and has working knowledge of French.
Ayalde has more than 28 years of experience in international development, and began her career at USAID in 1982, under the International Development Intern program in USAID/Dhaka.
In 1985, Ayalde was posted at USAID/Guatemala during a period of transition to a democratic government, overseeing a variety of social development programs. She was then posted to Nicaragua, where she managed growing assistance programs during the early 1990s.
In 1993, Ayalde was the Deputy Director for the Office of Central American Affairs in the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, and became director in 1995 during the peace process in the region, returning as Deputy Mission Director for USAID/Nicaragua in 1997.
She was assigned as mission director for USAID/Bolivia in 1999, and then served as mission director for USAID in Colombia beginning in 2005.
Ayalde is married and has two daughters.
Previous U.S. Ambassador to Brazil
Sobel, Clifford
Clifford M. Sobel was sworn in as the US ambassador to Brazil on July 20, 2006. Born in 1949, Sobel attended the University of Vermont and graduated in 1972 from New York University's School of Commerce with a B.S. degree in management. During the 1970s and 1980s, he founded and later became chairman of several companies that designed, manufactured and imported fixtures in retail environments. From 1985 to 1991, he was founder and board member of Norcrown Bank of Roseland, New Jersey. Most notably, he was Chairman of Net2Phone, Inc., which is the largest provider of Internet telephone service.
A politically active Republican who between 1993 and 2004 donated $362,749 to Republican candidates and committees, Sobel has also served on the boards of such conservative organizations as the libertarian Lexington Institute, the right wing think tank Empower America (now known as FreedomWorks), the business-oriented Business Executives for National Security, the fiscally conservative/socially tolerant Republican Leadership Council, and the industry-funded Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, which denies the reality of global warming. He reportedly considered running for the U.S. Senate from New Jersey, both in 2006 and in 2008.
Sobel has been appointed to various posts by both Republican and Democratic administrations. From 1987 to 1989, he served on the U.S. Government Industry Sector International Trade Board. From 1993 to 1997, he served as a Secretary of Defense appointee to the Board of Visitors of the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, California, and from 1994 through 1998, Sobel served on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council in Washington, DC. From 2001 to 2005, Sobel was Ambassador to the Netherlands.
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