Brazil’s diplomacy in the U.S. cleans house

In an unsurprising move, the Brazilian Foreign Affairs Ministry has relieved Nestor Forster Jr. from his duties as the country’s ambassador to the U.S.

Mr. Forster is a career diplomat who served as Brazil’s chargé d’affaires in Washington before being promoted to the ambassador’s job in 2019. 

He is also perceived as a reliable ally of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro. Before taking over the ambassadorship, he helped organize a meeting in Washington between Mr. Bolsonaro and stars of the American alt-right such as Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Donald Trump.

Many on the left were also disgruntled with Mr. Forster’s efforts to defend the Bolsonaro administration’s environmental policies and downplay worries of democratic backsliding in Brazil (although that is the kind of work one would expect from a diplomat serving any administration).

In the first year of his term, Mr. Bolsonaro wanted to appoint Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, his third-eldest son, to head the Brazilian embassy in Washington — which had remained leaderless for the longest time since 1925. 

The government began talks to facilitate the ratification of Eduardo’s appointment by senators, but amid clashes between the then-president and his political party, his son never got a confirmation hearing. 

The removal of Mr. Forster came through a January 6 ordinance, but the decision was only published in the Federal Gazette on Monday.

Another casualty in Brazil’s diplomatic corps in the U.S. is Maria Nazareth Farani Azevêdo, who served as consul general in New York. Ms. Farani was once chief of staff to former Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s top foreign policy advisor, but over the years moved closer to Bolsonarism.

In 2019, she engaged in a shouting match during a debate at the UN with a former Brazilian congressman critical of Jair Bolsonaro.

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