O Brasil e os 40 anos do reconhecimento de Angola

The present work analyzes a decisive moment in Brazilian foreign policy toward Africa to have occurred from 1974 to 1975, when the continent’s Portuguese colonies became independent. Beginning with the previous historical context characterized by Juscelino Kubistchek’s government’s approaches to Africa, but placing a special emphasis on the period of Independent Foreign Policy (PEI) launched during Jânio Quadros’ government and maintained by successor Joao Goulart, the article analyzes the foreign policy employed by the military governments of Castelo Branco, Costa e Silva and Medici, up to the Geisel period, when Brazil came to recognize former colonies as independent states, including Angola under the leftist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). This recognition is granted particular attention at the end of the article, due to the controversy generated at the time and that persists in Brazilian foreign policy 40 years later.