The Brazilian ambassador to Lebanon, Paulo Cordeiro de Andrade Pinto, died on Wednesday (8) in Italy. He was accompanied by his wife, the ambassador Vera Lucia Estrela Pinto. Both were victims of a traffic accident. They were in a taxi on the highway between Grumo and Altamura, near Bari in the Italian region of Puglia. The vehicle collided with a truck. The driver of the vehicle, Marcello de Filippis, 49, also died on the spot.
The Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of the couple through a note of regret.
Before joining the Brazilian Embassy in Lebanon – a position he had held since last year – Paulo had been consul in Milan.
Born in Salvador, Bahia, Andrade Pinto served as Brazil’s Consul General in Milan and served in the Permanent Delegation in Geneva, the Brazil Mission to the United Nations in New York and the Brazilian Embassies in Mexico and Canada, as minister-counselor.
He was also Deputy Secretary-General for Africa and Middle East Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“It is a huge loss for Brazil”
“It is a huge loss for the Itamaraty and Brazil, which reminds us of times when our foreign policy was characterized by values such as peace and solidarity,” saysCelso Amorim, the former foreign minister of Brazil.
“Ambassador Paulo Cordeiro played a very important role in strengthening recent relations between Brazil and Africa, and his death is a great loss for all those who have had the privilege of living with him. a great incentive for IBRAF initiatives,” says the president of the Brazil Africa Institute (IBRAF), João Bosco Monte.
“So sad and devastating news. Ambassador Paulo Cordeiro was a true friend of the African Group and the African Continent. May his gentle soul and that of his beloved spouse Vera, rest in eternal peace,” affirmed Martin Mbeng, Cameroon Ambassador in Brazil
+ Paulo Cordeiro de Andrade Pinto participated in the 2nd Brazil Africa Forum, an event held in Fortaleza in 2014 by Brazil Africa Institute, which also publishes ATLANTICO. Watch his participation in this video (available in Portuguese).