Mário Gibson Alves Barboza

Mário Gibson Alves Barboza qualified in law in Recife and entered diplomacy in 1939. His early American service began at the Houston consulate and continued at the Washington embassy during and after the Second World War. After assignments in Brussels, Buenos Aires, and the United Nations, he became ambassador in Austria and Paraguay. A short appointment as ambassador in Washington in 1969 ended when General Emílio Médici brought him home as foreign minister. ¹

As minister from 1969 to 1974, Gibson expanded Brazil’s contacts in Africa and Latin America and oversaw the foreign ministry’s move to Brasília. In April 1973 he signed the Itaipu Treaty with Paraguayan foreign minister Raúl Sapena Pastor. The treaty created a jointly owned entity to develop hydroelectric resources of the Paraná River, with equal Brazilian and Paraguayan participation and detailed arrangements for power, financing, and administration. ^{1, 2}

His diplomacy also defended the military government. In a November 1970 conversation with American ambassador William Rountree, Gibson acknowledged that abuses might have occurred but denied that the government sanctioned them. Rountree’s record links these exchanges to American congressional criticism and to unresolved commercial and maritime disputes. ³

Gibson later headed embassies in Greece, Italy, and Britain. In London he also protected Argentine interests after the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas war had broken diplomatic relations between Argentina and Britain. Retiring in 1986, he published the memoir Na diplomacia, o traço todo da vida in 1992. He died in 2007. ¹