Last President of the Military in Brazil, João Baptista Figueiredo (1979-1985), grandfather of Bolsonarist businessman Paulo Figueiredo, presented a protectionist stance and averse to external interference, such as the actions adopted by grandson NOS, according to experts.
First Brazilian president to speak at the opening of the UN General Assembly in 1982, Figueiredo criticized foreign intervention in Afghanistan. The complex conflict occurred amid the occupation of the country by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, with financial and militarily supported rebels by the United States.
“It cannot be accepted that, due to the policy of bloc, the occupation of sovereign countries and interference in their own affairs and limits on their freedom, as in Afghanistan, may occur,” the Brazilian president told the occasion.
Figueiredo advocated the removal of Soviet troops from the region, but without expressing support for American intervention. The posture, called ecumenical and responsible pragmatism, marked foreign policy during the governments of Figueiredo and its predecessor, Ernesto Geisel (1974-1979).
“The idea was to tune in with the United States as much as possible, but try to expand, try to expand the margin of maneuver in Brazil, to pragmatically try to look for markets and seek alliances wherever it was, everywhere in the world,” says Dawisson Belém Lopes, a researcher at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais) and author of the book “From Bonifácio to Amorim”, about the history of Brazilian diplomacy.
Figueiredo’s diplomacy recognized Argentine sovereignty about Falklands, strengthened relations with other South American countries and made him the first Brazilian president to visit the African continent.
“There is a lot of criticism from a more militant right to the BRICS [bloco com China e Rússia, entre outros países]. But the BRICS would be perfectly compatible with Figueiredo’s foreign policy, “adds Lopes.
Grandson of the former president, Paulo Figueiredo has been acting in the US, with the licensed (-SP), for sanctions to Brazil in defense of the former president (PL) and against the minister, (Supreme Court). The practice has been dealt with by the Lula government (PT) as blackmail for Bolsonaro to be amnesty in the case of the coup plot.
The Brazilian products – recorded to the interlocution of – was framed in Section 301 of the US Trade Law, the same section that has served as a threat to Brazil because of a measure adopted by its grandfather.
In 1984, a year before the democratic reopening in the country, João Figueiredo sanctioned the PNI (National Computer Policy), which aimed to encourage the development of the Brazilian computer industry and restricted imports in the area.
The following year, the US announced that Brazil would be investigated for unfair trade practices because of PNI, which would have made life difficult for US technology companies in the country. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan reached several Brazilian products in response to national law, something that did not occur.
Although, at the time, Brazil was already governed by, the taxation was the result of a policy adopted by Figueiredo as president.
“I find this parallel with Reagan perfectly possible and the sanctions that Brazil suffered from the computer law. Paulo Figueiredo’s grandfather walked to the United States. It is curious, a irony of fate,” says Dawisson Lopes.
For Guilherme Casarões, political scientist, professor at FGV and coordinator of the far right observatory, Figueiredo’s position was “to the end, and to the cable, protectionist.”
“This shows that Figueiredo had a patriotic stance, if we want to put it that way. Very different from the position of today’s right defenders who want American intervention at any cost in Brazil to be able, according to them, to overthrow what they call the dictatorship of Toga,” says Casarões.
According to the political scientist, Paulo Figueiredo’s performance for American sanctions to Brazil attentive against the idea of sovereignty defended by the military, including the businessman’s grandfather. According to him, after the 1964 coup, supported by the US, the military began to seek autonomy from Americans.
“What we see today is Paulo Figueiredo saying that what he is trying to defend is Brazil. But for the military, it does not make much sense the idea of inviting a foreign power to interfere with Brazilian internal policy to meet a particular political objective,” says Casarões.
Paulo Figueiredo is one of the coup plot. He integrates alone the fifth core of the complaint, the only one that has not yet been analyzed by the first class of the STF.
