“Would it be the end of prejudice?”: the military dictatorship, Itamaraty and Brazil's first black female diplomat

Abstract

Historically, access to diplomatic career in Brazil has been restricted to a few, usually white men belonging to the national elite. Studying the career of diplomats who don’t fit Brazilian diplomacy’s standard profile can, thus, help to understand the structures that guide the selection process for these cadres. Mônica de Veyrac (1957-1985), Itamaraty's first female black diplomat, entered the Rio Branco Institute in 1979. At the time, the agency was targeted with several criticism: the press claimed that the career selection process was discriminatory; Abdias do Nascimento, an intellectual and activist, argued that Itamaraty was racist. The Brazilian military dictatorship, to challenge the critics, used the approval of Mônica de Veyrac,  publicizing her image, internally and externally, as an example of Brazilian “racial democracy”. Nevertheless, her brief career was an exception to the rule; the composition of Brazilian diplomacy has little changed, and affirmative action policies are a fundamental element for this change.