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Paulo Tarso Flecha de Lima

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Paulo Tarso Flecha de Lima (born 8 July 1933) is a retired Brazilian diplomat. He was the ambassador of Brazil to the United Kingdom, the United States and to Italy and was also secretary general of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, before retiring in 2001, after forty-six years in the diplomatic service.

His wife, Lucia, was Secretary of Tourism of the Federal District but is better known as a close friend of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Life

Born in Belo Horizonte, Flecha de Lima joined the Brazilian diplomatic service in 1955. Early in his career he was a member of the staff of President Juscelino Kubitschek. In 1971, he was appointed head of the government's Department of Trade Promotion.[1] He spent most of his overseas career on the "Elizabeth Arden circuit", high-status capital cities such as Rome, Paris, London and Washington, D.C.. From 1985 to 1990 he was secretary general of the Foreign Ministry in Brasília.[2]

In August 1990, Flecha de Lima was on holiday in southern France when he was commissioned to conduct negotiations on behalf of his government for the release of some five hundred Brazilians living in Iraq. Saddam Hussein had threatened to use them as human shields to prevent an attack by the United States and its allies which later became known as the Gulf War. Flecha de Lima successfully negotiated in English with Hussein Kamel al-Majid, Minister of Military Production and son in law of Saddam Hussein, and with Iraqi vice-presidents Sabri Hamadi and Taha Yassin Ramadan.

From 1990 to 1993 Flecha de Lima was Brazilian Ambassador to the United Kingdom,[3] then from 12 November 1993 to 26 May 1999 he was Ambassador to the United States, suffering a brain haemorrhage while in post. He then went to Rome for his final overseas posting as Ambassador to Italy.[4]

Family

Flecha de Lima met his future wife, Lucia, the daughter of a professor of medicine, while she was still at school. They married in 1960 when she was eighteen and have five children, including daughters, Isabel and Beatriz (now Beatriz Nasr).[5][6]

Honours

Notes

  1. ^ The Washington Almanac of International Trade & Business, vol. 2 (1995), p. 11
  2. ^ Paulo Tarso Flecha de Lima at itamaraty.gov.br, accessed 16 October 2011
  3. ^ Former Ambassadors at brazil.org.uk/embassy, accessed 16 October 2011
  4. ^ You Can Take the Envoy Out of Washington, but... in Washington Post dated May 28, 1999, accessed 16 October 2011
  5. ^ Sarah Bradford, Diana (2007), p. 425
  6. ^ Daphne Barak, Building up confidantes in Sunday Times dated 19 March 1995, from Daphne Barak Exclusives at daphnebarak.typepad.com
  7. ^ PAULO TARSO FLECHA DE LIMA HOMENAGEADO EM BRASÍLIA at caras.uol.com.br, accessed 16 October 2011
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