US embassy cable - 05BRASILIA99

UNCLAS BRASILIA 000099 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, ETRD, BR, Domestic Politics 
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: AMBASSADORIAL MUSICAL CHAIRS 
 
 
1.  (U) At the halfway mark of the Lula administration, 
President Lula and Foreign Minister Celso Amorim have decided 
on key Ambassadorial changes, principally in Europe.  Several 
of the high profile Ambassadors had been appointed to their 
present positions by former President Fernando Henrique 
Cardoso. 
 
2.  (U) In Paris former Minister of Development, Industry and 
Foreign Trade, Sergio Amaral, will turn over the embassy to 
Ministry of External Relations (MRE) Under-Secretary for 
Political Affairs Vera Pedrosa, while in Rome ex-President 
Itamar Franco will be replaced by the head of Brazil's WTO 
Mission in Geneva, Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa -- assuming 
the GOB is unsuccessful in its quest to place Seixas Correa 
as WTO Director General. Although critical of then 
Presidential candidate Lula in 2002, then-Minister Amaral had 
been the beneficiary of an agreement between outgoing 
President Cardoso and the newly elected Lula to remain in 
Paris for two years.  A career diplomat, he likely will move 
to Tokyo to succeed current Ambassador to Japan Ivan 
Canabrava, a former MRE Under-Secretary for Political Affairs 
who is slated for posting to Berlin.  Vera Pedrosa, the 
highest ranking woman in Brazil's Foreign Service, would stay 
in Paris only until 2006 when she reaches the mandatory GOB 
retirement age. 
 
3.  (U) Current MRE Under-Secretary for Economic and 
Technology Affairs Clodoaldo Hugueney Filho, a strong 
advocate of building ties among developing countries during 
the WTO Doha Round, will replace Seixas Correa in Geneva. And 
from Berlin, Ambassador Jose Artur Denot Medeiros will return 
to Brasilia after completing the maximum ten straight years 
abroad allowed by MRE.  He will assume one of the 
Under-Secretary vacancies opened up by the departures of 
Pedrosa and Hugueney. 
 
4.  (SBU) Two other important Ambassadorial changes had 
already been announced.  Former Defense Minister and seasoned 
diplomat Jose Viegas will head to Madrid, while Ambassador 
Osmar Chohfi departs Spain to head Brazil's Mission to the 
OAS in Washington.  Prior to going to Madrid, Viegas was 
tasked by President Lula to complete negotiation with the USG 
for revisions to the 2000 bilateral Technical Safeguards 
Agreement for the Alcantara space launch facility, which has 
not been ratified by the Brazilian Congress. 
 
Chicola