The close relationship between future Chancellor Mauro Vieira and retired Ambassador João Carlos de SouzaGomes, who was fined in the Itamaraty for sexual harassment, has been critically recalled by diplomats since Presidentelect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) resigned his election as commander of Itamaraty announced in his government.
Vieira and SouzaGomes graduated together in 1974 from the Rio Branco Institute, a school for the country’s diplomats. The first appointed the second special adviser on parliamentary affairs in 2015 when he took over the State Department from Dilma Rousseff (PT).
The choice was made even after SouzaGomes visited the Montevideo embassy when reports of harassment led to an Itamaraty inspection of the Uruguayan post in 2011, in the presence of thenCorregidor Gélson Fonseca. He was warned that the behavior was unacceptable but not penalized.
SouzaGomes was only removed in 2017 due to reports of harassment at the Brazilian delegation to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) in Rome, a position to which he was seconded in 2016 by thenPresident Michel Temer (MDB), without formal involvement of Vieira. The disciplinary proceedings ended in December 2018 with an 85day suspension.
The future minister was one of the defense witnesses at the trial. In a note, the future chancellor said that in his testimony he “declared that he was unaware of the facts that led to the indictment, also because he lives in a different city from the ambassador in question”.
Vieira also said he was unaware of reports of harassment in Uruguay when he appointed him his agent.
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The remembrance has an additional component: one of the victims of SouzaGomes’ racist remarks, according to witnesses at the trial, was Ambassador Maria Laura da Rocha, who has now been elected by Vieira as the first woman Secretary General of the Itamaraty to hold the position.
The ambassador preceded SouzaGomes in the Brazilian delegation to the FAO. According to testimony at the trial, the ambassador “made a comment about the dark complexion of Ambassador Maria Laura da Rocha”.
There was an expectation among diplomats that Presidentelect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would appoint a woman to head the Itamaraty. Rocha was one of the names cited.
Vieira headed the Croatian embassy until he was elected future chancellor. The announcement was made last Friday (9), the same day that the team from the European country eliminated the Brazilian team at the World Cup.
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