Henrique Rodrigues Valle

Henrique Rodrigues Valle entered Brazil’s consular service by examination in 1939. Born in Corumbá in 1915, he served in New York during the Second World War and joined the Washington embassy in 1945. He worked with Brazil’s delegations at the San Francisco conference that established the United Nations and at its early assemblies, then served in Santiago and as consul general in New Orleans. He returned to Washington as minister-counselor in 1956. ^{3, 1}

As chargé d’affaires in July 1959, Valle carried Brazil’s financial crisis directly to Secretary of State Christian Herter. Accompanied by Maury Gurgel Valente, he explained that President Juscelino Kubitschek’s development program faced a severe shortage of foreign exchange and that negotiations with the International Monetary Fund had stalled over stabilization measures the president considered unacceptable. Valle asked for American assistance and prepared the ground for incoming ambassador Walther Moreira Salles, whose first task would be seeking credits. ²

Back in Brazil, Valle headed Amaral Peixoto’s administrative office at the Ministry of Transport and Public Works and later became deputy secretary-general for American affairs. In 1963 he served as secretary-general of foreign policy and briefly acted as foreign minister. He was ambassador in Moscow (1964–1968) and at the Organization of American States (1968–1970), before nomination to Denmark. ¹