João Batista Pinheiro

João Batista Pinheiro was a lawyer and career diplomat whose work frequently crossed into economic administration. After early consular service, he studied economics at Berkeley, worked at the Washington embassy, and directed the foreign ministry’s economic division. He later served as finance secretary of Espírito Santo and as a director of the national development bank during the Kubitschek administration. Before becoming ambassador in Washington in 1976, he had represented Brazil in Mexico, West Germany, and Argentina. ¹

Nuclear cooperation and national autonomy became central issues in his American assignment. In January 1977 Pinheiro told Secretary of State Cyrus Vance that Brazil regarded its agreement with West Germany as a means of securing energy supplies without dependence on another country’s political decisions. He defended the safeguards attached to the agreement and Brazil’s opposition to nuclear proliferation, while criticizing international rules that restricted states without nuclear weapons more than existing nuclear powers. ²

Pinheiro left Washington in 1979. A proposed appointment to Moscow was withdrawn at his request; he later moved into consultancy. ¹