Brazil doesn’t feature on Blinken’s South America tour

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit South America next week, but a stop in Brazil is not on his itinerary. Mr. Blinken will meet Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso in Quito on October 19, followed by a trip to Bogota on October 20-21 to visit Colombian President Iván Duque, the State Department confirmed today. 

His agenda will focus on counternarcotics operations, migration, and climate change, with additional emphasis on economic issues in Ecuador and peace and human rights in Colombia.

Crucially, the secretary is also expected to address the democratic crisis in Venezuela, where President Nicolás Maduro and opposition leaders are currently in negotiations to hold transparent elections — an issue on which Brazil has been much less vocal than usual since the nomination of Carlos França as Foreign Minister in April, despite it being a regional priority for the U.S.

Moreover, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s relationship with U.S. President Joe Biden has been much rockier than it was when Donald Trump was in the White House, with climate change, democratic stability, and Chinese influence being sources of distress. President Biden and Mr. Bolsonaro have never spoken directly. Brazil asked for a bilateral meeting — or at least a phone call — between the two heads of state, but the request was ignored.

Still, the U.S. gestured towards Brazil on another bilateral issue yesterday, as National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told Secretary of Strategic Affairs Flávio Rocha that his country supports Brazil’s bid to enter the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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