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> Patterson emphasized that a divided stance on Venezuela will be “suicidal” for the bloc, reiterating that the Caribbean is a powerful entity but only as a united voice.

Former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Percival James Patterson called on Monday for Caribbean nations to support a united stance on the situation in Venezuela, reminding regional leaders that they had reached a common position repudiating external intervention in the country’s internal affairs.

“We expect all our leaders to act in accordance with that decision and not to veer off in support [of those] who have a contrary view, whether in the halls of the OAS (Organisation of American States) or the corridors at Mar-a-Lago,” Patterson said during the launch of his book, “My Political Journey” at the University of the West Indies (UWI).

Jamaica’s sixth prime minister (1992 - 2006) was referring to a questionable meeting held on March 22 between U.S. President Donald Trump and the presidents of Bahamas, Haiti, Jamaica, and Saint Lucia, held without true representation of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) as their representatives were not invited.

PJ Patterson, as he is widely known, also emphasized that a divided stance on Venezuela will be “suicidal” for the bloc, reiterating that the Caribbean is a powerful entity but only as a united voice. “The Caribbean, we at the OAS are 14 nations strong; we have the voting power,” he added.

If not, the former PM warns that the region will be “reverting to a time we thought we had passed long ago to the days of subservience and being subject to the dictates of others based on their interest.”

On May 1, Caricom called to recommit to a peaceful solution in Venezuela. Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and Chairman of the group, Timothy Harris said the bloc “has been working earnestly to promote meaningful dialogue and diplomacy, as well as a four-phased process called the Montevideo Mechanism, whose aim is an inclusive and lasting solution.”

While the Caribbean nations of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, all members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) rejected U.S. imperialism and intervention on Venezuela during the group’s 18th Political Council. </s> The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has mounted an Observation Mission for Antigua and Barbuda’s General Elections on 21 March 2018.

The eight-member Mission, headed by Mr Keith Lowenfield, Chief Election Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission, and including experienced representatives from The Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago, and support staff from the CARICOM Secretariat, began arriving in Antigua and Barbuda on 15 March.

Since its arrival, the Mission met with the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, the Commissioner of Police, and the Leaders of the United Progressive Party (UPP) and the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), and has paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Gaston Browne.

Meetings have also been held with other key stakeholders including the Acting Executive Director of Gender Affairs to gather information and discuss issues which have emerged in the electoral process.

Over the remaining days, the Mission plans to meet other political parties and stakeholders and attend rallies to get a sense of the general atmosphere and the overall level of preparedness.

On election day, the Mission will monitor activities in most constituencies, including the opening of the polls through to the tabulation and announcement of the results. It will then issue a Preliminary Statement outlining its initial assessment of the electoral process and thereafter prepare a Final Report for submission to the CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque. </s> Countries & Areas

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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.