XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Between human rights discourses and interference: the interactions between President Jimmy Carter's and the Brazilian military dictatorship

• In Event: Cold War U.S.-Brazil interactions: self-help diplomacy, the seeds of neoliberalism, and foreign interference resistance

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between President Jimmy Carter's administration (1977-1981) and Brazil's military regime under the leadership of President Ernesto Geisel and President João Figueiredo (1979-1985). Drawing on archives of the U.S. and Brazilian press along with telegrams from the U.S. Department of State, this paper shows how the White House's human rights discourse stimulated anti-American feelings among government officials and even members of the opposition to the regime in Congress and civil society. Both sides interpreted the U.S. approach as "interference in internal affairs" and expressed their annoyance with Washington's engagement regarding the political landscape in Brasília. As Brazil's Foreign Minister Azeredo da Silveira told the local press that Carter's visit to the country in 1978 was "a matter of duty, not a wish", the prominent oppositionist - and future President-elect - Tancredo Neves stressed to journalists that Brazil demanded "respect and self-determination" in the course of local politics and Brazil's transition to democracy. Through an analysis of different political sectors' reactions to the Carter administration's human rights focus, I argue that the U.S. foreign policy strategy undermined the diplomatic relationship with the South American country (government and opposition), put American security interests at risk, and united agents from different political perspectives into a shared anti-interference discourse. It was during the years of Carter's presidency that Brazil unilaterally terminated a 25-year military treaty with DC, recognized the independence of a new Soviet-backed administration in Angola, and witnessed public demonstrations against the American foreign policy in Brazilian major universities.

Author

• Lucas de Souza Martins, Temple University