'Parallel Adviser' Admiral Bolsonaro has made more trips abroad than Carlos Franca

On the seventh of this month, the Special Secretary for Strategic Affairs at the Presidency of the Republic announced, Admiral Flavio Rochareturned to Brasilia after a 20-day journey through 11 countries in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. He spent about 24 hours on the national territory and embarked on another mission, this time to the United States, to accompany President Jair Bolsonaro to the Summit of the Americas.

The hierarchy of international agendas shows that the military has taken command A complementary role to that of Chancellor Carlos FrancaThis caused government officials to be uneasy. Head of the Secretariat for Strategic Affairs (SAE) since 2020, Rocha has traveled around the world as Head of State Department – sometimes accompanied by the President; others alone.

Since April 2021, when França took up his position at Itamaraty, Rocha . has become 21 international flights, while the chancellor held 19 in the same period. On eight of those occasions, the two were with Bolsonaro. Rocha’s international flights have alarmed some ministers. For them, travel exceeds the limits of the position they occupy. Among the tasks of the SAE is to “propose strategies for policy formulation” in various areas, including foreign affairs, defense and security. wanted SAE and Itamaraty not shown.

The Arab and European tour was the most ambitious trip so far for the admiral who was accompanied by Federal Rep. Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), the president’s son. The two have gone through Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Hungary and the Czech Republic and met with local government representatives, particularly in defense areas, as well as businessmen. Rocha’s side role doesn’t seem to bother the director. The president praised the trip with Eduardo Bolsonaro. He even said that the head of the SAE should give an interview to reporters about the topics covered during the mission and highlight the conversations about the KC-390 military aircraft, one of Embraer’s main products.

“Rocha is now in the Arab world for 15 days,” Bolsonaro told reporters on Monday.

– He should hold a press conference with you about his trip to the Arab world. It wasn’t just the KC-390, a business card that many countries want to buy.

On four occasions, Rocha and Franca traveled abroad together, but without the company of the President: they visited Portugal, Angola, Peru and Colombia, to represent Brazil at official events. The trips they took had different motives. On different dates, the two went to Moscow, for example, in the months before Bolsonaro visited the country. Rocha has also held meetings with military authorities from Turkey and the United Kingdom, among other engagements outside the country.

Admiral took over More importance in the government after the departure of Ernesto Araujo To drive Itamaraty. also Fill in the void left by Felipe Martins, who was responsible for advising Bolsonaro on foreign affairs and who lost his place in the government. While Carlos Franca was working on the Planalto party, he and Rocha maintained a good relationship.

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But according to a government interlocutor, France and Rocha recently distanced themselves because the chancellor would not agree to the Admiral’s international agenda, which was carried out without prior coordination with Itamaraty. A member of the Diplomatic Area minimizes the rift and denies the existence of any noise. Also, according to one of these interlocutors, the admiral deals with issues directly related to Bolsonaro, while France is the executor of foreign policy. The consultant usually says that the president is the one who formulates the guidelines.

People close to Rocha and the chancellor say the admiral’s role is similar to that of Marco Aurelio Garcia, who was an adviser on international affairs to former President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (PT). There has been much speculation about a climate of rift between Garcia and former chancellor Celso Amorim, which both sides have always officially denied. In the case of the Labor government, there were some peculiarities. Garcia also handled political relations with parties around the world. He outlined the creation of the “Group of Friends of Venezuela” in 2003 to try to resolve a political crisis in the neighboring country.