Antônio de Aguiar Patriota has been the Ambassador of Brazil to the United States since February 23, 2007, representing the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Patriota was born in Rio de Janeiro on April 27, 1954. He majored in philosophy at the University of Geneva and graduated first in his class from Brazil’s Diplomatic Academy, Instituto Rio Branco, in 1979. His postgraduate thesis for the Advanced Studies Course at the Rio Branco Institute was published in 1998 under the title “The Security Council After the Gulf War: articulating a new paradigm for collective security.” 

 

After joining the Foreign Ministry, Patriota held a number of overseas positions during the 1980s, including member of Brazil’s Permanent Mission to the International Organizations in Geneva (1983-1986), Political Counselor at the Brazilian Embassy in Beijing, China (1987-1988), and Head of the Economic Section of the Brazilian Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela (1988-1990). In the early 1990s, Patriota worked in Brazil, first as Advisor to the Secretary General for Political Affairs, at Foreign Ministry headquarters in Brasilia from 1990 to 1992, and then as Deputy Diplomatic Advisor to former President Itamar Franco from 1992 to 1994. Patriota then spent eight years at foreign postings, including five years, from 1995 to 2000, as Political Counselor at Brazil’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York City, and two years as Deputy Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland from 2001 to 2003. Promoted to the rank of Ambassador in December 2003, Patriota served as Secretary for Diplomatic Planning in the Office of the Minister of Foreign Relations from 2003 to 2005, as Chief of Staff to the Minister of Foreign Relations from May 2004 through May 2005, and as Under Secretary General for Political Affairs, at the Ministry of Foreign Relations from 2005 to 2006.