Celso Diniz

Celso Diniz joined Brazil’s consular service in 1951 after training at the Rio Branco Institute. His early assignments included research work at the United Nations, the Baltimore consulate, Asunción, and Buenos Aires. In Brasília he headed the Eastern Europe division from 1963 to 1967 and then the foreign minister’s office. These responsibilities brought him into trade discussions with the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia as well as the ministry’s transfer to the new capital. ¹

Diniz served as minister-counselor in Washington from 1969 to 1977, acting as chargé d’affaires during absences of the ambassador. He led Brazil’s delegation in bilateral cotton textile consultations in 1972 and at the 1973 conference that adopted the international convention regulating trade in endangered wildlife. Later he became ambassador in the Dominican Republic and Saudi Arabia. His Saudi assignment also carried accreditation to other Gulf states, and in 1984 he was nominated to represent Brazil concurrently in North Yemen. ¹