Rinaldo de Lima e Silva

Rinaldo de Lima e Silva graduated in law in São Paulo and entered diplomacy in 1895. His early career included Vienna, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, London, and repeated assignments in Washington, first as a junior diplomat and later as chargé. He subsequently headed missions in Ecuador, Bolivia, Poland, and Spain. In 1925 he became the first head of Brazil’s representation in Japan after its elevation to embassy rank, then served in Mexico. ¹

He returned to Washington as ambassador in 1931, representing the government established by the 1930 revolution. Relations with the United States were unsettled by the Brazilian civil conflict of 1932 and by trade and financial difficulties. In 1933 he handled preliminary negotiations for a reciprocal trade agreement. The draft formally delivered to him that October proposed tariff concessions and most favored nation treatment; the completed agreement would be signed under his successor Oswaldo Aranha in 1935. ^{1, 2}

A separate 1933 draft agreement named Lima e Silva, or his designate, as representative of the Brazilian government and Banco do Brasil in a settlement of American firms’ blocked balances. It proposed converting those balances into dollar obligations payable over six years. He moved to Brussels in 1934 and died there in August 1935. ^{3, 1}