Brazil retreats from its South-South cooperation policy by closing five of its embassies in the Caribbean.

Brazil confirmed the closure Wednesday of five Caribbean embassies to include those in Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Brazilian Foreign Ministry is also considering more embassy closures in two African countries.

Brazil’s Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo made the official confirmation Wednesday through a press release to the media. His stated justification for the closures was based on “adjusting foreign policy needs to the realities of our resources, both human and financial.”

According to the Itamaraty, the name for the headquarters of the foreign ministry, the closures “will not diminish bilateral relations,” assuring that Brazil’s interests “will be covered by other diplomatic missions in the region that are already prepared or can be optimized to take over new duties.”

These closures represent a departure from the policies backed by former President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and his Workers Party, which opened at least 67 embassies in countries throughout the Global South in a bid to enhance political and economic ties with Brazil and as part of a larger strategy of South-South cooperation.

Despite the insistence that the move is related to costs and available personnel, Brazil's former Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim, told a local media outlet that “the costs of those embassies is minimal. This just shows a lack of interest.”

Araujo was appointed as head of Brazil’s Foreign Ministry by President Jair Bolsonaro in November 2018. His appointment came as a surprise since the relatively young top diplomat was low on the foreign service hierarchy.

Some media reports have speculated that Araujo’s appointment was made in part thanks to a pro-Trump essay he wrote back in 2017 which praised U.S. President Donald Trump, lambasted the United Nations and globalism, and advocated for a Trump-Brazil alliance.

Two other embassies are being assessed for possible closure, both in Africa. Brazil’s Liberian embassy in the capital of Monrovia and Sierra Leone’s embassy in Freetown. Another embassy in Africa, that of Libya, is technically active, but has no staff appointed to it. </s> Three more countries will be joining the rush to establish embassies in the eternal capital of Israel, Jerusalem.

Juan Orlando Hernández, the president of Honduras, announced on Sunday at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington D.C. that his country will be opening an embassy in Jerusalem “immediately.”

“Honduras will immediately open our official diplomatic mission and this will extend our embassy to the capital of Israel, Jerusalem,” Juan Orlando Hernández told the crowd.

Cape Verde, or Cabo Verde, is a Portuguese-speaking nation on a volcanic archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa. Jews first moved there in the wake of the Inquisition at the end of the 15th Century and another wave arrived in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from Morocco and Gibraltar. There are currently no practicing Jews in Cape Verde.

Not to be outdone, Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă made a similar announcement at AIPAC on the same day. Romania is perceived as a strong ally of Israel in the European Union. In April, the Romanian government approved a resolution to move the embassy, which had Dăncilă’s support, but President Klaus Iohannis, who has final say in the matter, blocked the initiative. In January she visited Israel and discussed the embassy move with Prime Minister Netanyahu. When she returned to her country opposition head and chairman of the National Liberal Party Ludovic Orban filed a complaint against Dăncilă at a special tribunal, charging the premier with treason. </s> Brazil will move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the country's incoming far-right president has announced.

The move will make Brazil the most prominent country after the United States to declare Jerusalem as Israel's capital, after Donald Trump moved the U.S. embassy earlier this year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the plan, which Bolsonaro had promised during the election campaign.

Netanyahu, who has called Bolsonaro his 'friend' and invited him to visit Israel, called it a 'historic, correct and exciting step'.

A polarising judge who jailed former President Luiz Inacio de Silva - knocking 'Lula' out of this year's election - has been named Brazil's new justice minister. Sergio Moro is wildly popular among conservatives and loathed by many on the left. After meeting Bolsonaro in Rio de Janeiro he promised to 'implement a strong agenda of anti-corruption and anti-organized crime'. As a judge he was at the centre of the sprawling 'Car Wash' investigation, one of the largest corruption probes in history. The investigation uncovered the large-scale looting of state oil company Petrobras. But many on the left felt the probe which brought down ex-President Lula was politically motivated. Polls suggested Lula would have beaten Bolsonaro in the election had the ex-president not been jailed 12 years for corruption.

In a tweet yesterday Bolsonaro said: 'As previously stated during our campaign, we intend to transfer the Brazilian Embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem.

'Israel is a sovereign state and we shall duly respect that.'

It was the first time since his election victory on Sunday that Bolsonaro referred to his plan to move the embassy.

Netanyahu issued a statement saying: 'I congratulate my friend Brazilian President-Elect, Jair Bolsonaro, for his intention to move the Brazilian Embassy to Jerusalem, a historic, correct and exciting step!'

If Bolsonaro follows through on his pledge, Brazil would become the third country to have an embassy in Jerusalem, after the U.S. and Guatemala.

Trump broke with decades of precedent in December when he declared Jerusalem Israel's capital and announced the embassy would move there.

Palestinian leaders cut off contact with Trump's White House following the declaration.

Paraguay briefly moved its embassy to Jerusalem only to move it back to Tel Aviv after its new president, Mario Abdo Benitez, was elected.

The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, as the capital of a future state.

Israel claims all of the city, including the eastern sector, home to Jerusalem's most important religious sites, as its eternal capital.

Most countries maintain embassies in Tel Aviv, saying the final status of Jerusalem must be determined through negotiations.

Some Brazilians have raised concerns about the idea, saying it would hurt Brazil's relations with Muslim nations.

Former Brazilian Ambassador to the U.S. Rubens Barbosa has warned that such a move could hurt Brazil's poultry exports.

Brazil 'would be throwing away $6 billion per year in poultry sales to Arab countries' by making the move, he said.

Bolsonaro has outraged many with his derogatory comments against women, gay people and blacks, and his support for the torture used by Brazil's brutal military regime which ruled from 1964 to 1985. </s> President-elect says Brazil to move embassy to Jerusalem

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro is reiterating that he plans to move Brazil's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, joining the United States and Guatemala.

In a tweet Thursday, Bolsonaro said: "As previously stated during our campaign, we intend to transfer the Brazilian Embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. Israel is a sovereign state and we shall duly respect that."

It was the first time since being elected Sunday that Bolsonaro has referred to his plan to move the embassy.

Some Brazilians have raised concerns about the idea.

Former Brazilian Ambassador to the U.S. Rubens Barbosa has warned that such a move could hurt Brazil's poultry exports. He says that Brazil "would be throwing away $6 billion per year in poultry sales to Arab countries." </s> RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - Brazil will move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday (Nov 1), making the Latin American giant the largest country after the United States to make the controversial switch.

"As previously stated during our campaign, we intend to transfer the Brazilian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Israel is a sovereign state and we shall duly respect that," Bolsonaro tweeted, a move that will defy Palestinians and most of the world.

In interviews, Bolsonaro said Israel should have the right to decide where its capital is located, just as Brazil moved its capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia in 1960.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, with international consensus being that the status of the whole city must be negotiated between the two sides.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.

In December, President Donald Trump reversed longstanding US policy and recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, prompting Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to boycott his administration.

The embassy was officially transferred on May 14. Guatemala and Paraguay followed suit, though the latter announced last month it would return its embassy to Tel Aviv.

Bolsonaro, 63, who won a run-off election on Sunday, has outraged many with his overtly misogynistic, homophobic and racist rhetoric.

Following his victory, Netanyahu told Bolsonaro he was certain his election "will lead to a great friendship between our peoples and the tightening of links between Brazil and Israel." An official in Netanyahu's office told AFP the Israeli premier was "very likely" to attend Bolsonaro's inauguration ceremony in January.

Bolsonaro meanwhile plans to make Israel one of his first foreign trips as president, along with the United States and Chile - countries that "share our world view," according to the president-elect's future for chief of staff, Onyx Lorenzoni. </s> May 9 (UPI) -- Ahead of a U.S. visit by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonro next week, President Donald Trump has designated the South American nation a major non-NATO ally.

Trump previously said he favored Brazil joining NATO and has been a proponent of Bolsonaro's. Wednesday, the U.S. president declared in a memo to Congress Brazil's new status as a major non-NATO ally -- the 18th nation to receive that label from the United States.

"I am making this designation in recognition of the Government of Brazil's recent commitments to increase defense cooperation with the United States, and in recognition of our own national interest in deepening our defense coordination with Brazil," Trump said in a statement.

The designation is given to non-NATO-affiliated foreign governments considered by the United States a key strategic military partner. Tunisia was the last to receive the designation for its counter-terrorism work with American forces.

Bolsonaro will visit the United States next week, in a trip to Dallas. He was supposed to visit New York City to accept a Person of the Year award from the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce, but controversial policies and statements caused activists to protest. The American Museum of Natural History ultimately canceled plans to host a black tie gala for Bolsonaro.

Spokesman Rego Barros said some U.S. cities "do not know how to take advantage of the good democratic environment in the United States, and therefore, Bolsonaro will visit another city within the country."

"Our president has already received several invitations from other [U.S.] states that ensure he will be honored properly when he arrives there," he added. </s> Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the closure of Israel's embassy in Paraguay, his office said, after the South American country announced Wednesday it was moving its mission back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem.

"The prime minister has asked the foreign ministry to close the Israeli embassy in Paraguay," the statement said, adding that Paraguay's decision had cast a shadow on relations between the two countries.

Paraguay's announcement that it was moving the embassy back to Tel Aviv came little more than three months after it had transferred it to Jerusalem following a similar move by Washington.

US President Donald Trump's deeply controversial move to recognise the disputed city as capital of Israel sparked outrage among Palestinians who see Jerusalem's east as the capital of their future state.

In May, then-president of Paraguay Horacio Cartes met with Netanyahu in Jerusalem after his country and Guatamala opened their embassies there.

His successor President Mario Abdo Benitez, who took office in August, decided to move it back "to contribute to the intensification of regional and international diplomatic efforts that aim to achieve a broad, just and durable peace in the Middle East." </s> MANILA— Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Elmer Cato said the Philippine government is checking whether there are Filipino casualties in two separate gun attacks in Brazil and France on Wednesday.

No immediate reports of affected Filipinos from the Philippine Embassy in Brasilia and Philippine Consulate in Strasbourg were released yet, but Cato said the foreign posts have monitored the deadly shooting incidents that took place in Campinas and Strasbourg.

“We have monitored the shooting at the Metropolitan Cathedral in the city of Campinas near São Paulo. The Philippine Embassy in Brasilia will be sending us a report on this unfortunate incident,” he said in a text message to reporters.

“We are also monitoring a shooting incident in Strasbourg, France,” he added.

A gunman opened fire inside the church in Campinas near Brazil’s most populous city, São Paulo, killing five and wounding several others. The perpetrator then killed himself before police could arrest him.

Meanwhile, the gunman in Strasbourg remains at large after killing three and injuring at least a dozen people.

According to reports, the shooting advanced toward the Grand Rue, one of the city’s main shopping streets.

Some areas, including the European Parliament, were placed into lockdown with the public taking shelter inside the establishments and restaurants in the city. Joyce Ann L. Rocamora/PNA-northboundasia.com </s> MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2019) The ministers of foreign affairs of the Lima Group will hold the 15th meeting in the Argentinean capital on July 23.

The meeting will be focus on the situation in Venezuela and will be attended by representatives of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Peru, Canada, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Saint Lucia, as well as observers from Ecuador and, for the first time, El Salvador.

Colombia is expected to propose additional sanctions against Venezuela, as announced by Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo last week.

The Lima Group was created in 2017 to attempt settling the crisis in Venezuela. The group includes Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Guyana, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Saint Lucia. Most member states back opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido, who is opposed by the incumbent president, Nicolas Maduro.
Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms the closure of five of its embassies, the ones in Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis and Dominica. Former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had opened more than 65 embassies in countries throughout the Global South in a bid to enhance political and economic ties with Brazil.