The Permanent Representative of Brazil to the UN comes to NYU

Antonio Patriota, the Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations, visited NYU, which was sponsored by NYU’s Model UN.

Patriota praised his native Brazil as a “diplomatic superpower” that “demonstrates leadership” on a multi-lateral stage.

And he has a point.

Antonio Patriota speaks at NYU

Have you gotten word of Brazil participating in any organized conflicts in the past 20 years? That is because their last military endeavor took place in 1991 with Operation Traíra, which was a successful operation against the guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia People’s Army.

Regarding diplomacy, Patriota claimed that Brazil has a “relatively well-established and well-organized foreign ministry.” Brazil not only prides itself on its unique position as a leading regional power in Latin America and among developing countries as well as an emerging world power, but also it prides itself on multilaterism, or working with other countries to achieve a common goal, peaceful dispute settlement, and non-intervention in the affairs of other countries. They are proponents in peace and security, as they encourage peaceful cooperation between countries and are not an overpowering military force. They have been extraordinary at making allies and avoiding enemies.

Furthermore, Patriota claimed that millions of Brazilians are being transferred from poverty to the middle class, which is backed up by a steady decline in Brazil’s annual poverty rate. Though it remains high at 8.9% of the Brazilian population (relative to 2013), the improvements Brazil has made since 2006, when the poverty rate was 17.3% of the population, are substantial. This is also significant in its quest to grow of the middle class, and this quest is coming to fruition present-day.

Lastly, Patriota boasted about how Brazil has become more environmentally conscious. This comes as a shock because in 2009, Brazil had the highest overall negative impact on its environment of any country in the world. However, Brazil has boosted its environmental protection efforts in a big way due to incremental efforts in a three stage program over the span of two decades:

http://environmentblog.ncpa.org/brazils-environmental-policy-a-model-for-the-united-states/

As you can see, Brazil’s environmental policy has gone from the world’s cellar dweller to a very respectable entity. Maybe it’s time for the Unites States to take note of Brazil’s recent environmental accomplishments?

Antonio Patriota hyped up Brazil great successes, aside from those on the soccer pitch (their five World Cups are the most in history), and showed us that this South American superpower knows how to get stuff done on the foreign and domestic fronts.