JOURNALfor the STUDYof ANTISEMITISM

2011] THE POLITICAL BACKGROUND 57
adoption of international sanctions sponsored by Washington. Even in symbolic
aspects, there were broken ties with the Iranian question, such as visiting
the tomb of Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, but refusing to visit the tomb of
Theodor Herzl in Jerusalem, during a visit to the region in 2010. The ideological
direction that Lula had given its foreign policy can be inferred. Brazil,
through Lula, had also abstained in voting in the Commission of Human
Rights against Sri Lanka, Congo, and North Korea, although it had voted
against Sudan in the Security Council.
Lula described Chávez as “without a doubt the best Venezuelan president
in one hundred years.” His last visit to Fidel Castro was remembered
as a great shame when he agreed with the death of an opponent jailed in a
hunger strike. Lula, creator of the social forum Antiglobalización de Porto
Alegre, avoided receiving the Global Statesmanship Award in Davos by
alleging at the last moment that a medical impediment prevented him from
traveling. In addition, Lula was in opposition to the White House when he
supported the restoration of Cuba to the Organization of American States
(OAS), whose explicit charter stated that only democracies can be a member;
he gave diplomatic shelter to the demoted president of Honduras and
Chávez ally Manuel Zelaya; he protested the agreement between the United
States and Colombia for the American use of military bases in the Central
American country; and he adopted a more intense, Third World tone in
public that contrasted with his more moderate previous image.
When assuming the presidency at the beginning of 2011, Dilma Rousseff
aroused doubts given her guerrilla and Marxist past. Her closeness with
Lula, who chose her as his successor, could suggest a continuation of the
controversial policies of her mentor. But her first ventures in the international
sand have turned out to be much more centrist than those of her
predecessor, at least for the moment. Her past history of feminist commitment
and being tortured as a guerilla moved her to condemn the practices of
human rights in Cuba and Iran. In the last UN voting, Rousseff led Brazil to
vote in favor of creating a representative of human rights for Iran, naming
Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, a former and respected ambassador to Washington,
as the minister of external relations. For its part, the United States
indicated that it no longer had an interest in restoring Lula’s legacy in Brazil.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was present in the January 1 ceremony
marking Rousseff as president, which surely meant that New Year
celebrations were limited.
President Barack Obama traveled to Brazil in the middle of March,
even though the warlike fight in Libya was already initiated. The visit, part
of a program that also included Chile and El Salvador, was interpreted as a
sign of the friendliness of Washington toward Brasilia, Brazil’s capital.
Lula, incidentally, was unique as a former Brazilian president in not attend-