Diplomats Criticize "Anomaly" at Brazilian Foreign Affairs Ministry

09/29/2014 - 15h22

Promotions dammed, budget cuts and the lack of preference of the president of the Republic for the external agenda soured the mood in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, leading to an insurgency of beginner diplomats, who complain about the stagnation of their careers.

The newest chapter in the troubled relationship between the Foreign Service and Dilma Rousseff's administration is a letter signed by 342 third-secretaries - the initial position in a career at the department - and delivered to the office of Chancellor Luiz Alberto Figueiredo in August.

Members of the "factory floor" of diplomacy, who entered their careers between 2009 and 2014, estimate that they will only be promoted to the next level within 15 years.

The historic average for promotion is fewer than seven years, they say. The letter criticizes "distortions" and "significant anomaly of career flow."

The central reason for the problem is the bottleneck created by the explosion in the number of new diplomats between 2006 and 2010, when the Lula administration increased the number of annual vacancies to more than 100 in an attempt to expand Brazil's presence abroad.

Before this, there were about 20 vacancies per year, a figure that has recently returned.

The assessment is that the reform lacked a later extension of the framework and Itamaraty had not planned to absorb the newly admitted, a situation made worse by budget cuts since 2011.

The "insurgents" have claimed the application of a law already approved by Congress that increases the number of positions at higher levels.

If the law is not regulated, more than 300 diplomats will be at risk of having no career progression, sacrificing the professional pretensions of about a quarter of Itamaraty.

"The maintenance of the current circumstances may represent loss not only members of the third-secretary class, but also to the ministry as an institution, since it would be deprived of the contributions of an entire generation of professionals who will never have the possibility of assuming positions of responsibility and command," the letter says.

The beginners have held meetings outside the ministry to decide how to act. The act is not trivial. To have a career with the State, discipline has always been a trait of the diplomat.

The target of the group is Dilma Rousseff, who was held responsible for the "scrapping" of Itamaraty. According to one diplomat, "the Dilma government deconstructed everything the Lula-[Celso] Amorim [former chancellor] built by Itamaraty and by foreign policy."

According to the authors of the letter, Figueiredo has so far not responded officially to the claim. According to the diplomats, he said that problems are part of the job and that public servants should "deal with frustrations on a personal level."

A Foreign Ministry source said that the "group of 400" don't have the "esprit de corps" (loyalty within a group) necessary for this type of career. "People need to wear the shirt, be loyal; it's not like working at any other company," the source said.

The foreign minister said he is "leaning over on the issue of diplomat career-flow, seeking solutions" and denies that there has been large budget downsizing at Itamaraty.

According to him, the third-secretaries' letter was welcomed because it was a contribution from a group of diplomats. "I made an internal decision, because I want to modernize Itamaraty and listen to employees; I've received more than 1,000 suggestions."

Translated by JILL LANGLOIS