Brazil’s Foreign Minister is more Bolsonarista than the president himself

When entering the world of diplomacy as a fresh-faced graduate in 1991, Ernesto Araújo could never have dreamed of one day making his way to the top of the chain and leading Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Ministry. In November 2018, after a little over two decades flying under the radar, holding middling offices within Brazil’s diplomatic structure, newly elected President Jair Bolsonaro made the surprising announcement that the “brilliant intellectual” Mr. Araújo would be his new foreign minister.

Despite never commanding an embassy or even gathering the respect of his diplomatic peers, Ernesto Araújo was suddenly parachuted into Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, being tasked with steering international issues during Mr. Bolsonaro’s proposed “regeneration period.”

While many of Mr. Bolsonaro’s other cabinet appointees were already famous — or infamous — public figures, his new Foreign Affairs Ministry was a completely unknown quantity, causing many pundits and analysts to turn to search engines to find out “who is Ernesto Araújo?”

Atop the search results was Mr. Araújo’s personal blog, Metapolítica 17, by way of which the new foreign minister aimed to show people exactly who he was. On the blog’s About page, Mr. Araújo laid out his raison d’être in direct and cutting terms:

“I’m Ernesto Araújo. I have worked for 28 years in public service and I am also a writer. I want Brazil and the world to be free from globalist ideology.”

The Anti-Globalist Foreign Minister

According to Mr. Araújo’s writings and public statements, “globalism” is the root of all society’s ills. Framed as...