Midway through September, the Brazilian government hosted U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for a meeting at the country’s northern border with Venezuela. The move was lambasted by politicians and career diplomats alike as a major diplomatic faux pas. A group of six former Foreign Ministers published a statement repudiating what they called “the spurious utilization of Brazilian soil by a foreign power as a platform for provocation and hostility towards a neighboring nation.”
Apparently, however, there was even more to the story than meets the eye.
While Mr. Pompeo accompanied Brazil’s Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo on a visit...
