Meet the ‘FDP’ who sewed the hug between Trump and Lula

On September 15, Grenell and five other people disembarked in Rio for a stop lasting less than 24 hours. There, the North American ambassador would speak for the first time with Chancellor Mauro Vieira. The meeting, the only one ever made public until then, was revealed by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo a few days after Lula and Trump embraced on the margins of the UN General Assembly.

This is considered the crucial conversation in Grenell’s entire strategy, because it not only unlocked bilateral contacts but also choreographed the sequence of steps that would follow.

From Rio, Grenell went to Asunción, Paraguay, where he met President Santiago Peña, a right-wing ally in the region, and participated in the CPAC Conservative Conference, the most important meeting for the Trumpist right.

The American did not embark to the Paraguayan capital without first presenting, in a telephone call from Rio, his credentials to Amorim. The Brazilian was not in Rio, but the telephone conversation, secret until now, flowed cordially and served for Grenell to repeat to him the message he had given to Vieira: that Trump saw an opportunity for dialogue.

From both, Grenell heard the Brazilian government’s perspective on the political events of 2022 and the reaffirmation that Brazil saw itself as a strategic ally of the USA with the Global South and the other Brics countries (the bloc that initially included, in addition to Brazil, China, Russia, India and South Africa).

Bolsonaro’s condition, under house arrest, was briefly mentioned in the meeting with Vieira, on the 15th. And Grenell was pleased to hear from Monteiro that the issue was up to the Judiciary — without interference from the Executive.