Arns Commission participates in a delegation to warn about risks to democracy in Brazil

Former Minister Paulo Vannuchi, one of the founding members of the Arns Commission and member of the Washington Brazil Office (WBO) delegation, is in Washington, D.C. until July 28th, for a series of meetings with politicians and representatives of US institutions to warn about the threats against democracy and the electoral system in Brazil.

The organizations are calling for international support and recognition for the results of the October elections and for the reliability of the electoral system amid a climate of political violence in Brazil. In addition to the Arns Commission, 18 other Brazilian civil society organizations are participating in the delegation.

The delegation started its agenda on Monday (25) with a meeting with American civil society organizations and foreign institutions based in Washington, such as Greenpeace and Brazil Foundation.

On Tuesday morning (26), Vannuchi participated as one of the spokespersons in a meeting with the U.S. State Department and, later, was received at the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He also attended, in the afternoon, a meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders and a meeting with the Diplomatic Mission of Argentina.

The result, according to Vannuchi, was “extremely positive”, with “consistent” manifestations of confidence, by the State Department, the White House, and congressmen, regarding the Brazilian institutions and its electoral system. Sanders acknowledged and thanked “the courage of the delegation” to make this confrontation and the “lesson about Brazil” given by its members. “I told the senator that in Brazil the president refused to implement a COVID-19 vaccination campaign. We were only able to start the vaccinations because he was very pressured by the judiciary branch and civil society. The death toll was much higher than it could have been,” Vannuchi said.

On Wednesday (27), the Arns Commission met with several congressmen, including Congressman Hank Johnson, leader of the Black Caucus. Afterward, the Arns Commission participated in the Atlantic Council event. The seminar was attended by names such as Laura Chinchilla, former president of Costa Rica who served as Chief of the Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (EOM/OAS) for the 2018 General Elections in Brazil. The journalist Patrícia Campos Mello and Marcos Nobre, the president of the Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning (Cebrap, in Portuguese), also participated in the discussions.

The delegation's work continues, with planned meetings with Latin American ambassadors, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and with parliamentarians, correspondents, and the press.

“We are carrying the message that democracy in any country of the world matters to everyone. But in Brazil, we have the most extensive borderland of environmental devastation. And this environmental protection is largely due to environmental monitoring and Indigenous peoples. The protection of Indigenous peoples must be a priority in order to guarantee a democratic state”, explains Vannuchi.

The 19 organizations that comprise the delegation, in addition to the Arns Commission, are the following: the ABGLT (Brazilian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Travestis, Transsexual and Intersex Association), the APIB (Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil), Article 19, Conaq (National Coordination for the Articulation of Black Rural Quilombola Communities), Conectas, Geledés, Greenpeace Brazil, the Institute for Climate and Society, the Marielle Franco Institute, Instituto de Referência Negra Peregum, the Vladimir Herzog Institute, Pact for Democracy, Transparency Internacional, Uneafro, and 342 Artes.