São Paulo – Brazil’s ambassador to Lebanon, Paulo Cordeiro de Andrade Pinto, passed away this Wednesday (8). The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the diplomat and his wife, Vera Lúcia Ribeiro Estrela de Andrade Pinto, got involved in a car accident in Southern Italy. Vera Lúcia was also killed.
Italian press outlets said they were in a taxi that collided head-on with a truck on State Road 96 Altamura-Bari, near Mellito. The taxi driver Marcello de Filippis died as well.
Cordeiro was 65. He was born in Salvador, Bahia on October 12, 1953. He held a degree in History and was admitted to Instituto Rio Branco, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry’s school for diplomats, in 1978.
The ambassador’s stint in Beirut had begun last year. Prior to that he served as consul general to Milan, Italy and as ambassador in Ottawa, Canada and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Cordeiro also worked at Brazilian diplomatic offices in Bolivia, Mexico and Tanzania, as well as at Brazil’s permanent delegation in Geneva, Switzerland and in Brazil’s mission to the UN, in New York.
From 2011 to 2015, Cordeiro was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ undersecretary-general on Africa, the Middle East and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP). During this time, he played a major role in Brazilian-Arab diplomatic relations.
In 2014, he was honored by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce for his work, during Arab Community Day celebrations in Brazil, on March 25. ““I am honoured, but I simply perform my duties, I do not require a tribute,”,” Cordeiro told ANBA Cordeiro told ANBA on that occasion. The diplomat was held in very high esteem by his colleagues.
“Brazil lost an excellent diplomat, the Arab Brazilian Chamber and the Arabs, a great partner and friend”, said this Wednesday the Arab Chamber’s president, Rubens Hannun.
Paulo Cordeiro married his fellow countrywoman Vera Estrela in 1976. They are survived by three children and three grandsons.
“The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs extends its solidarity and deepest condolences to the family and friends of Ambassador Paulo Cordeiro and his wife Vera Estrela,” reads a statement from the Ministry.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum