Celso Amorim, Special Advisor to Brazilian President Lula da Silva, stated that peace and development are indivisible; each requires the other to be achieved, he emphasized in an exclusive July 24 interview with EIR’s Dennis Small. He spoke of how the wars ongoing around the world harm the global economy, taking government monies out of the health care, infrastructure and other investments needed, especially in the developing countries, while increasing the costs of such basic inputs as fuels and fertilizers. As for the growing danger of nuclear war, Amorim reiterated Brazil’s long-standing advocacy of nuclear disarmament by all nations, without distinction.
Brazil seeks respectful relations with all nations, China, the United States, India, et.al., with pragmatic cooperation on economic projects despite their differences. That is why Brazil seeks a multipolar world, as seen in its participation in groups such as the BRICS. That is why Brazil also seeks to foster South American integration. With such neighbors as Peru, South America can accomplish in the 21st century what the United States did in the 19th century, establishing a usable link between the Atlantic and the Pacific.
Is such a world possible? Amorim insisted: “If you do not believe in the future, what is the point of life? For our children and our grandchildren, and the grandchildren of other people, have to have a good life. That’s what keeps us alive, I think.”
Brazil, a founding member of the BRICS, is the largest country in South America, both in population and territory. Amorim, today Special Advisor to the President, served as Foreign Minister in President Lula’s first two terms in office (2003-2010), and Defense Minister under President Dilma Rousseff from 2011-2013.
