Abstract: Based on primary sources, relevant literature and contemporary press, the paper analyzes how the largest South American state, Brazil, was treated in foreign policy of the Yugoslav socialist regime. The moment of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1946 and the year in which diplomatic missions were elevated to the rank of embassies, along with the expansion of trade agreement (1952), were taken as the chronological framework. The article examines how the Cold War divisions, Yugoslav emigration to Brazil, and mutual trade influenced bilateral relations.

Keywords: Yugoslavia, Brazil, Cold War, diplomacy, emigration, trade

Summary

Diplomatic relations between Yugoslavia and Brazil were re-established in June 1946, when the countries were in a quite the opposite political development. In Yugoslavia, the communist regime was etablishing its power by cementing a one-party system, while in Brazil the new democratic period followed the years of dictatorship. Shortly after the diplomatic relations were re-established, diplomatic missions in both capitals were opened and the Yugoslav and Brazilian envoys took their positions in early 1947. Yugoslav interests in this part of the world were the issues of Yugoslav emigration and the improvement of trade, but also the possibilities of cooperation within the international organizations, especially the UN. The period between 1946 and 1952 can be divided into two distinct phases: from the restoration of diplomatic relations until 1949, and beyond. The first period was marked by mutual suspicions and the belief that Yugoslavia and Brazil were dictated by the USSR and the USA instead of being independent political subjects. During the mentioned phase, there was no significant economic cooperation between the two states, so the trade negotiations failed. After the Cominform Resolution, especially during 1949, the situation changed. The successful resistance of the Yugoslav government to Stalin’s dictate brought some kind of simpathy in Brazil, which was the leader of the Latin American countries that supported Yugoslavia’s candidacy for a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. During the following year, the trade agreement was finally signed, which led to a doubling in trade yet in 1951, and even more in the following years. During 1951 the vice president of Brazil Café Filho visited Yugoslavia, which symbolically marked the progress in bilateral relations. The mentioned was made official in 1952 by the promotion of diplomatic missions into embassies, the first Yugoslav embassy on the South American soil. In early 1950s, the foundations were laid for a wider cooperation between the two countries in the following years