Defense Minister José Múcio Monteiro departed on a flight to Sweden in early October with the express purpose of pitching the sale of Embraer’s C-390 Millennium military transport aircraft. The Brazilian plane is currently being considered, alongside Lockheed Martin’s C-130J Super Hercules, for the renewal of the Swedish air force.
During the flight, Hamas led an armed attack on Israel. The trip was canceled mid-flight, reportedly so the minister could lead the repatriation mission that eventually brought over 1,400 Brazilians back from Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.
Eight months later, Mr. Múcio has not remade the trip nor visited Sweden.
This is striking considering similar events. In early 2023, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva canceled a trip to China due to pneumonia. He then visited China the following month, signing several agreements.
Documents obtained by The Brazilian Report through the country’s equivalent of the Freedom of Information Act show that the Defense Ministry initially had the intention to reschedule the trip. “I inform you that a new date is being worked out so that the ministers’ meeting, in Stockholm, takes place later this year,” Air Force brigadier André Luiz Alves Ferreira wrote to Brazil’s military attaché in Sweden on August 2, regarding a previous postponement.
The documents also show the heightened status of Mr. Múcio’s planned trip....
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