Osvaldo Euclides de Sousa Aranha or Oswaldo Euclides de Souza Aranha, (February 15, 1894- January 27, 1960) was a Brazilian politician, diplomat and statesman. Born in Brazil in the city of Alegrete (state of Rio Grande do Sul), he was a Bachelor of juridical and Social Sciences. Aranha obtained his degree in law through the Law University of Rio de Janeiro (Faculdade de Direito do Rio de Janeiro) in 1916. After his graduation, he returned to the state of Rio Grande do Sul to exercise himself as a lawyer, establishing then a personal and professional contact with Getúlio Vargas, who was also a lawyer. Aranha fought the insurrection of 1923, deflagrated by sectors that opposed the fifth consecutive re election of Borges de Medeiros for the government of the state. By personally commanding an irregular armed force composed by civilians, Aranha fought new uprisings promoted by the opposition in the upcoming years. Aranha started his political career in 1925, when he was named Mayor of his native town by Borges de Medeiros until 1927. Later on he was elected representative in his State legislature. He subsequently became Foreign Minister and it was under Mr. Aranha's guidance as Minister of External Relations that Brazil took part in the first three consultative meetings of the Ministers of External Relations of the American Republics which defined Pan-American policy during the early stages of the Second World War and worked out the recommendation for the collective severance of diplomatic relations with the Axis Powers. At the first Special Session of the UN General Assembly held in 1947, Oswaldo Aranha, then head of the Brazilian delegation to the UN, began a tradition that has remained until today whereby the first speaker at this major international forum is always a Brazilian. As the head of the Brazilian delegation to the UN, Aranha supported the creation of the State of Israel; in 2007, a street in Tel Aviv was named in his honor at a ceremony attended by his relatives, Brazil's ambassador to Israel, and the wife of Pele. [1]
References
- ^ "Tel Aviv Street Named for Brazilian", Dateline World Jewry, world Jewish Congress, September, 2007
External links
- Oswaldo Aranha (Brazil's Ministry of External Relations Website)
- Oswaldo Aranha (United Nations Website)
- Cover of the TIME Magazine Jan, 19 1942
| Preceded by Getúlio Vargas |
President of Rio Grande do Sul 1930 |
Succeeded by Sinval Saldanha |
| Preceded by Paul-Henri Spaak |
President of the United Nations General Assembly 1947–1948 |
Succeeded by José Arce |
